I am surprised to see this has not gotten more attention so I figured I would post it here, any one have any comment on it? I feel like Logan would go crazy at the possibility of a quick and easy fiber upgrade to America. They do not seem to be on track to make it to the goal however, so before I go and give money to this group I figured I would see what others think of this.
I honestly feel they should find an investor instead of getting crowdfunded (they're definitely going to need more than $1 million). It definitely could become a profitable business.
given the state of things I see this will be going no where soon .. It cost about 20 - 50k to solar panel your house, that is about the size of your normal drive way. It will probably cost between 5k- 10k per panel to be completely installed after paying all the different contractors/laborers you will need. (even there faq avoids there question of costs)
you might see them in airport runways in 10 years, but I image the cost would be to crazy in the end for public use
Costs would decrease over time. I work with a company that installs solar systems at no cost to the home owner. unsurprisingly we are booked for the entire year. The point they are trying to make is what would be the cost if we didn't embrace this technology? I'm gonna donate a few bucks in hopes they can get the parking lot installation done so we can see how well it really does after going through different seasons and use. At this stage it's all in development and needs a real world test. So maybe support it before completely shooting it down?
"no cost to the home owner" - so they are not bound into a monthly contract that lives with the house ?
I'm not trying to attack you and im not saying I hate the idea of the solar panels, in fact I very much approve of anything solar, but at what price ? I have done some business with companies that do nothing but sell dreams and take advantage of willing investors with no return, after reading there faq with no pricing figures it screams to me a red flag. I'm ok with crowdsourceing when it used as a type of presell, but I think this type of funding is closely crossing a line. Not that its wrong in the world of business (who wouldn't want investors you never had to pay back), I just personally am skeptical when i see things like this.
this is useful for homeowner driveways, city park walkways , skyscraper rooftops etc
But tiled roads are going to make for an uncomfortable & noisy ride. Also Financing(1) & engineering(2) is probably going to be next to impossible.
outfitting public roads with so much silicon is going to be outrageously expensive
getting the tiles to stay interlocked for decades of punishment from large trucks and the weather seems unlikely: don't forget current asphalt roads are high-tech, it took half a century to get it right.
Also heating the roads in the winter o_0 That's insane.
@cavemanbangs : airport runways ??
Planes that land & start, probably cause allot of stress on runways. I imagine that those tiles might become loose pretty quickly. If one of those tiles gets sucked into a turbine it's going to have horribly consequences.
I was just thinking how cool it would be if they changeable leds that could draw a path for the pilot to follow - wasn't at all thinking about little tiles being blown away