Another example of excitement without a basis in reality?
Well, it’s not as bad as the claims that you can generate all the power you need to erase your utility bill with a simple solar panel that you can build yourself…
On the face of it, it’s an interesting idea. Certainly roads provide a lot of surface area. But the technical challenges are big. More than that, the funding challenges are huge. Where is the money going to come from to rip up perfectly good roads and install solar panels, not to mention all the infrastructure to transmit the power?
Fact is, it makes a lot of sense to generate power where we need it, which is on our homes and businesses. It also makes sense to generate it close to where we use it.
As for the road project, the Department of Transportation has invested some money in a pilot project, which would seem to imply some legitimacy. However, the amount of the grant is just $100,000. A quick search for how much it costs to install a mile of interstate gave me a figure of (average) $20.6 Million (source: http://www-pam.usc.edu/volume2/v2i1a3s2.html). I think this amount is just someone covering their a**.
