What's new
By:

Why aren't we funding this?

I feel like Solar shoulders next to the roadways would make more sense and be much, much easier to maintain, with far less of a hassle drivers.
 
QuinSnydersHair said:
I feel like Solar shoulders next to the roadways would make more sense and be much, much easier to maintain, with far less of a hassle drivers.
Click to expand...

That would defeat much of it's purpose. It melts snow, recongizes dabree and animal crossings and can warn you, also lights up the roadways at night, it's like a win-win on every aspect.
 
Another thing that always baffled me is why doesn't a city lay the over head powerlines under ground as they are laying roadside pipe? Makes no sense not to.
 
Stoked said:
Another thing that always baffled me is why doesn't a city lay the over head powerlines under ground as they are laying roadside pipe? Makes no sense not to.
Click to expand...

Cost. Typical figure quoted is that a buried line costs 10 times as much as a hanging one (they do bury them on occasion). Also, a damaged line would take much longer, and be vastly more expensive, to fix. With pipes, their weight and strength makes burying them more practical and affordable (since you would need ****load of support to hang them).
 
Stoked said:
Another thing that always baffled me is why doesn't a city lay the over head powerlines under ground as they are laying roadside pipe? Makes no sense not to.
Click to expand...

Money. It's expensive. I've heard that to put the average span of wire from one pole to another underground is around $60k and I think that was for the 220v that feeds a home. The wires above those are usually 7.2 Kv and transmission lines are much higher. Most people don't realize that the power actually runs outside the wire not within it. A typical 7.2 kv line that you might find in your neighborhood can arc nearly 2 feet. If you force electricity to run within an insulator you will increase resistance increasing loss of usable power and making it more expensive. It can be done but most places just don't want to pay for it.

The other issue is how easy it is to update our communication systems. It was a lot easier for cable companies to get their lines in because of the poles and it will be a lot easier as we move to fiber optics.

Further the power companies own a right of way for the lines. That is an asset that they are in no hurry to give up.
 
heyhey said:
Most people don't realize that the power actually runs outside the wire not within it.
Click to expand...

That's not exactly true. For DC current, like one you get from batteries, the power runs through the wire's bulk. For AC (which is more relevant to this discussion), the majority of the power flows closer to the surface due to something called the skin effect. The depth of transmission depends on the frequency of the current, but for a typical wire, the power flows from the surface to about a third of an inch through. But it is never outside of the wire.
 
QuinSnydersHair said:
I feel like Solar shoulders next to the roadways would make more sense and be much, much easier to maintain, with far less of a hassle drivers.
Click to expand...
My town recently installed to solar deer crossing road signs. It's a star. Why not solar powers flashing stop signs.
 
Siro said:
That's not exactly true. For DC current, like one you get from batteries, the power runs through the wire's bulk. For AC (which is more relevant to this discussion), the majority of the power flows closer to the surface due to something called the skin effect. The depth of transmission depends on the frequency of the current, but for a typical wire, the power flows from the surface to about a third of an inch through. But it is never outside of the wire.
Click to expand...

But there is an electromagnetic field surrounding transmission lines.
 
Gameface said:
But there is an electromagnetic field surrounding transmission lines.
Click to expand...

Well of course. There is an electromagnetic field emanating from all moving charges. That includes any electric current. :)
 
Siro said:
That's not exactly true. For DC current, like one you get from batteries, the power runs through the wire's bulk. For AC (which is more relevant to this discussion), the majority of the power flows closer to the surface due to something called the skin effect. The depth of transmission depends on the frequency of the current, but for a typical wire, the power flows from the surface to about a third of an inch through. But it is never outside of the wire.
Click to expand...


edit:

Most people don't realize that most of the power actually runs along the outside of the wire not within it.

Point being that insulated power lines will have more resistance producing more heat requiring thicker wires and be somewhat less efficient.
 
There was a very good thread an year ago here on JF. I was really excited until I saw this video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H901KdXgHs4
 
Solar tech is inevitable. The sector is just in its crawling phase and everything related to it will get cheaper in time. But that time is still a little bit far away. The EU has a goal to supply 20 percent of its total electricity needs from the renewable sources until 2020. Photovoltaic solar energy potentially can fill half of that 20% by that time(probably won't though). Right now it's very far away from that number but the EU cares about it to a great degree and now they have great growth numbers in PV energy and its percentage is increasing consistently in the newly established energy capacity.

And don't forget that the EU countries don't have that sun rich geography much. So, considering the much more solar rich countries in the world, I think the future of the solar energy sector is bright.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page
Back
Top