Saw a video report on this a month or so ago... Apparently this has been tested, a short section and it does work! But the cost is extremely high. I don't know if there is a city in the US where it would be cost effective. In the Netherlands it is cost effective! Maybe it will slowly make it's way around the world???
how much does a regular 228 feet of asphalt road cost?
2.74 million comes out to be about $16403 per foot. If the road is 30 feet wide that would theoretically fit less than 9 solar panels across which would be about $1822 per solar panel. Adding into this the wiring to manage this power and route it into the grid or houses....
Why would it only power 3 houses? Are they thinking condominium highrises? This amount of solar energy should power more than 20 houses
Brambor - this explains the bike path and power output of the cells a little
further. After looking at the article it dawns on me how truly we are at the infancy of this type of project, can you imagine the cost of installing a path like that on any kind of legitimate scale? More R&D needs to happen until they come up with something much more viable and realistic - I was envisioning them rolling out a flexible strip (like a roll of insulation) of panels, affixing it to the pathway, and connecting each strip to the next somehow (underground?) before ending with a connection to the grid? http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way...-bike-path-opens-this-week-in-the-netherlands
Time, this will take time.