Hi, it's almost 2024, couple of days out and well, we're still dealing with Solar Freaking cycleways. Not solar freaking roadways anymore. I Think they may have actually died, but Touchwood? Uh, you never know what 2024 might bring for Solar freaking roadways. The Netherlands are at it again.

So hi to my all my viewers in the nether regions, the Dutch are riding their bikes on two new solar cycle passs. Yeah, As if we haven't covered the solar roads and solar cycleways in the Netherlands enough before I actually have a piece there. It is sent in by one of my viewers. This is actually the older Solar Road Um, not solar, but Solar Road.

NL And this is the one that absolutely crumbled. and well, can you see light through that? I Don't think so. Guess why? It's not a good idea. So we're back again to two new large installations.

As if they haven't leared their lesson and everyone's covering this. Here's PV Magazine PV Magazine Australia Um, here's another one who's this. Power Systems Technology Pedaling towards sustainability, pedaling towards inevitable fire is what it's pedaling towards becomes the first thousand square meter solar cycle path. They got two of these th000 squ met solar cycle paths.

Interesting engine in. We've seen their dodgy reporting before and none of them push back against this at all. It's just it's just ridiculous. Anyway, Um, yeah.

Solar Roads in the Netherlands Um, that one failed. That's the piece I've got here. It's complete epic. Uh, fail it.

Just it just tore the shreds as I've done in my video here. Way great. Think you can look through this? get some energy through the sun? Yes or no, it's a real success. They call this a success that they know is a scientific organization.

They call this a success. Now you can now finally make some real energy because now you can see SS So I'm actually helping this other rod. That's great. So yeah, I I Did some tests on this and outside and yeah it was.

You know it was absolutely ridiculous as as you'd expect. And here's Kass Wway they're breaking about putting down two new 1,000 squ met solar bike Pars in the Netherlands I Don't know if the Netherlands are funding or whether or not it's coass cuz they claim over 50 installations around the world like trial test installations. As if they don't already have enough data on this, but but hey, this is the new improved model. So Cols Wway and the Dutch Construction Company Bam Royal group installed the cycle Pars in North Holland North Bant Provinces.

Um so I couldn't find exactly where it was. Um, leave it. please leave it in the comments if you know the exact like location. Otherwise, we could have looked at Google's satellite view and we could have seen like all of these space that rooftops that aren't covered in solar cells yet.

Um Anyway, they claim to be the world's first solar. Road Surfacing technology is around 40 trial sites in multiple countries since it's founded in 2015. As a result, it's been making improvements to its solar panel and this is the new model. So they've increased the power of this.

They got this. This is a new model that they're testing out. It's 148 watt. Uh Peaks There, that's a Watt peak.

Um, that's what the P stands for per square meter compared to older pars with 119 watt. Peaks Uh Watt peak Peak Peaks per square watt Peaks per square meter. Um, this old solar road. NL I Think this was about 80 or 90 Watts Peak So Cess Wway claimed to be H better than that.

Now up to 148 Watts Um Peak per square meter. What's that? compared to a regular solar panel? well, a regular. The nominal Um Radiance installation on a solar panel is 1,000 wats uh per square meter solar panels? you know, 20% 22% efficient. something like that.

So you can expect like 200 Watts uh Peak per square meter on a regular solar panel. at at least that sort of stuff. and you're always going to get that unless they're absolutely filthy. But you know a lot of my my solar panels.

Yeah, they do get a bit dirty on my H roof, but you know the rain just washes those off and they're still pretty good even though they get a bit of dirt on them. But once you put this coating on them, once you put this glass coating on them, it's it's G. It probably looks a Bit better than this, but like I can't see through that like you know it's no you got to have this rough surface once you put that on. I'm surprised they can get 148 uh Watts Peak there per square meter.

but that's their ideal figure. Once you start riding your bikes over and all the tire tread and everything starts getting embedded in there and the dirt and grime. and because they're flat, there's you know the rain doesn't like roll off it like it does on uh, like regular rooftop ones that are angled? um no, no, you might get that like in theory, maybe even in in practice when you first install it. but it's not going to last that long.

And that's what we've seen in the previous Caless Wway installations and there's nothing new here. It's been covered before 3 years late. This is in Popular Mechanics 3 years later, the French Solar Road is a total flop. As if I haven't been covering other uh, debunkers, haven't been covering this.

Tons of people have covered. it's all a flop. No matter where you do it, it's a complete flop. It's too noisy, it's falling apart and doesn't even collect enough solar energy.

Thank you. David Crossman um yeah the French U government at the time, the French minister or whatever. yeah it was I think she's gone now. Anyway, it it was a total failure I won't cover it I've done previous videos on and that was what.

5.5 million Euros wasted on that boondoggle invested in the tune of5 million and it was a complete boondoggle. But here they go again. So please leave it in the comments I Don't know if this had any government funding. um either state or territory? uh funding? I Don't know.

Please leave it in the comments. So maybe it's um, they just gave permission for KS Wway to do and that other company to uh, do this. Anyway, here's the take of this website. This is really smart.

as if you haven't read any of the other articles, haven't watched it. Simple Google Search will turn up that solar freaking roadways. Solar Freaking Cycleways has not worked and it just will continue to not work. Because unless you've covered every single rooftop or follow Germany's example, look at this: Europe Just got its first solar covered cycling path.

This is back in May 2023. Good on the Germans Here the German shity of city of uh Freeberg Friberg um in the Black Forest Here's the low down of the project. look look shock hor it. It provides shade for the cyclist and it's going to be optimal.

Yeah sure they're flat, but you know they're just regular solar panels. You don't have to put the thick tough coding on them and you don't get the tire tread all in it and everything. and you know. And they're easy to clean if you need to.

you know you might come along every six months and you might just hire someone to clean those quick and easy. And and Bob's your uncle right? and you're going to get and you're going to restore the full life of those pan panels they're going to. You're going to get 15 20 years life at least out of those panels, right? Absolutely fantastic and it's providing shading. Yeah, you could argue it looks a bit ugly, but you know you could make it look a bit better than that.

but even then, like it's practical and it works. Do you want to save the damn environment or do you want to be all fancy pancy? So yeah, I've covered this in other videos: Demise of Solar Ro Solar Road fails again, right? I Only did this four months ago. Four months ago there was another project I Even forget the details. Where was this one at right? Solar Bypass fails to meet electricity targets again Again, right? I Mean come on, this is ridiculous.

Just stop it. Stop it. But the Netherlands I mean you could argue. Okay, if they're paying for it, Me: whatever.

let them like let them install this stupid thing. but I don't know everyone like come on, this is ridiculous look and like is is the glue going to hold I Don't know Please my viewers in the Netherlands Please go and I'd love to see like go and check out this 1,000 square meters right? So it's probably like 500 M long cuz it looks like it's like 2 square m across or something like that. about maybe 500 me long. There's two of them.

Let us know in the comments where exactly this is. it looks like it's in and another, um, some photos here and some photos here showed it's actually near an airport somewhere. I tried to osen timers I tried to search for that but I couldn't really get anything. Um yeah.

so if you know where that is, please let me know. and I've said it before and I'll say it again. No matter how much engineering development you put into this solar roads, solar cycleways, it'll never, ever ever be as good or cost efficient or as reliable as solar panels on a roof. Oh you, a rooftop car park your homes, all your factory.

So until all of those are covered, then we might talk about putting them sticking them down onto the roadways at at least the colest Wway one. I'll give it this. it's probably the best solution of all of them out there because it's a thin little thing. It's only a couple of millimeters thick and you just like stick it down with some adhesive and Bob's your uncle right? You don't have to dig it up.

No big con concrete installation like this one was embedded in giant concrete slabs. You have to lift in with a crane and plug the dig it all up and plunk it in and everything I Don't know how the wiring actually works on this I'd Love to actually see that. Maybe you know that's that's the join there is there like a cut I mean you've got to put a cut in there somewhere. you can't just have the wires just running on top I guess so you know it's bit more work than just sticking it on.

and Bob's your uncle so I don't know I'd Love to see um if you're there please and in six months time? I'd be surprised if this hasn't started to peel and if it's producing, you know, crap is there like a panel there showing you the output. Please leave it in the comments if you know where we can get like the live D Can we get live data from this thing? It's got to be somewhere right? And because they always like install like a panel there and they boast about how much energy it's outputting and all that sort of stuff. and on day one you might get I'll I'll I'll give it. you know, at at the right time of the year, of course you might get your 148 watt Watts Peak per square meter.

You might actually get that on the best day when you first install it, but in 6 months time when it's got all the cycle Grime on it and all the other dirt and crap just ground into it. Um, no, it's going to be absolutely garbage anyway. So yeah, they've got this new one. But the good thing about this article is that we have comments.

The comments comments are always there. I I Haven't read them? Yeah. I've only read a couple. Um, so let's read them.

It's got like 70 comments. Let's go. We'll just end the video with with this: Jesse Lee Would it Mak more sense to put conventional solar panels over the bike paths? There's a lot of electr tech users so good on you. So over the bike pass? Yeah, like they did in Germany here.

Really good idea right? These will still be working in 15 20 years time. You won't have to touch them. Just the occasional clean on top. That'll still, that'll still be fine.

This thing this boondoggle will not be working in 5 years, let alone 15 years or 20 years. This is so Connor says yep it would. Solar roads are a bad idea that won't die. Roads like this are really expensive, really prone to getting damaged, and don't produce much electricity.

solar on roof or awnings over parking lots roads Etc make way more sense. Projects like this are a waste of time and money. 17 thumbs up Five Five replies. No, they didn't start testing this Tech yesterday.

The Dutch have been at it since 2014. As far as I can say, they are impressed by early results. Really? So I suppose it's a difference between random public opinion and opinion of the people trying to sort it out. Oh, we might have a fan here I know might be a fan but Connor replies well.

we have the energy production from the company itself. We can compare it to Traditional Rooft Solo to see how it Compares it. It was really not impressive or not it it would really need to be like 75% plus as productive to really make a sense over roof and you can decide your own metric for Success I'm not sure if they're reporting ideal, they are reporting ideal conditions. They always do.

guaranteed. Not only that, but we've seen we've got the demonstrable data. I've analyzed it in tons of previous videos from all of these installations. We've gotten the real data after 6 months, 12 months, uh, time periods and it's way below way below what they claimed.

It's like I think it's a quarter of the output I think in one of my videos I analyzed the data, it's a quarter of the output. The expected output for like five times the cost. Rooftop solar in ideal conditions is around 1,000 Watts uh per square meter. No, it's not.

That's the um insulation, the radiance hitting, uh, the panels. Um, so yeah, it's it's 200 400. No one's getting 400. It's around 200 to 220 uh watt Peaks per square meter.

um which which equates to around 20 to 22% efficiency of your solar panel? basically. Uh, so around double what this road is able to produce and this regular solar panels will produce easily. double this. After 6 months, this will just be filled with so much dirt and CRI Grime and crap that it, it'll just become really inefficient and they will degrade over time.

Yep, and there's one one reply AR No replies Again, many people seem to miss something here. They don't need only solar power. They need solar. What they need Solar power and bike roads prably good one.

Since the Netherlands they've already got the bike bike pass is already there. Just put the solar panels on top is wealthy and bicycling is really big deal there. Now one thing is building a bike Road doesn't cost nothing. Typical Ra road construction.

In any case, they are trying things out. They may decide in the end that it's not worth it. Look at all the data, all the videos, all the articles about how all of these solar cycleways and solar roads have failed. Poor Aro has got no clue.

I Don't think you understanding calculating out B We've got a war. We got a comment war war Aro and Connor are duking it out. Yep. Dore I Wouldn't wager without looking in specifics that you're also misunderstanding.

This goes over the top of the ashel concrete, so the price on top is a normal bike path. We could have another Fanboy here I Think you are misunderstanding some basics of PV efficiency even under perfect conditions. assuming cloudless stay and Sun directly overhead are Avail 1,000 Watts available at the square per square meter on the Earth surface, P Sals are doing very well if they're at 25% Yep is the maximum Uh figure? Yep. Bearing this in mind is not at all a bad figure for H on or service in the latitude of the Netherlands Yes, it's not a bad figure, but it's not going to stay that way.

Dirt, grime, everything else, wear and tear on these panels that you're riding on top of. It's going to be a problem anyway. Aro's back. aro's back.

you can read. you can read it all for yourself. Private building owners have a lot of roof space, but the Mun Municipality Municipality doesn't just get ACC to it because they want oh God You're right it. It just goes on and on.

They're just duking it out. They're duking it out. In the comments, this is great. Don't forget that roadways get dirty, which further diminishes the amount of power produced.

Yes, yes, but oh, it's 1970. another Fanboy Perhaps that is 1970s thinking when panels are $10,000 per kilowatt these days. I Read about people who are pointing out the panels are cheaper than housing housing siding at dollars per square foot and are considering using them to protect their house. The big question is whether to hook them up with wires or to paint them.

There's a lot of embodied energy which goes into making solar panels. like all like huge environmental cost. You don't build solar panels just cuz they're cheap and then clad your house house with them and then don't hook them up and pain over them. It's ridiculous.

Embodied energy in solar padels is a lot of embodied energy. Um, so you know there's a payback period for the embodied energy in them. So where you being sarcastic? hard to tell there potential? Collision has it? Well, fair enough. You know if you're drunk riding your bike through the nether regions, boom right into the pole.

Tough titties. So maybe leave bike. PS Be free and put panels on some better low hanging fruit surfaces like ruse thank you Dore You don't even need canopies. Vertical panels would be better.

Yeah, that you'd be better off with the vertical panels. Absolutely better off with the vertical panels than putting them on the surface unbeli because then you wouldn't need the protective cod in and then they. you know the water would um, the rained clean. The things with the're easy just to hose them off.

CU They just ground at vertical at ground level and yeah, could certainly do that. or you can have them like either side of the bike path like that angled up like that perhaps I don't know OV says conversely, what way seems to be selling? A matter of thin film solar cells can be glued to the ground? job done. Cheaper? Yes, uh, well. cheaper than any other um, solar solution? Not cheaper than rooftop panels.

These are more expensive to manufacture. For starters, you don't have the you know, the rough, uh, surface and everything else. Um, more efficient? No, they're not more efficient. They're demonstrably less efficient by their own metrics.

Um, and easier. Yeah, they're easier than any other solar solution. But uh, they don't last as long. They don't last as long.

They're not as efficient. And as I said, you've got that embodied energy and cost in there. You're better off buying the hugely cost optimized and cheap regular solar panels that last like 20 plus years or something and just Mount them on all the rooftops. Give them to people for free even if you want to spend your government money.

Efficiency Just here it is. Here's your solar panels. or just just pay for someone to install it. I Think you are correct.

Ongoing maintenance must be a big consideration. Perhaps it works out cheaper to just glue these p channels to the bike path, but overall, not convinced. This is a great idea, especially if it tried to export this idea to the rest of the world which they have. uh I laugh when there is an announcement of testing inroad charging in the US So much of the road infrastructure is falling apart.

just can't imagine how these would start to fail. Yeah, we just did a video on that. but even with a 30% failure rate, that's still a 70% non faure rate. Yay! For panels that cost more that have less efficiency and less LIF span and therefore higher embodied energy like orders of magnitude order of magnitude.

maybe two orders of magnitude higher embodied energy cost if you take the whole life cycle compared to a regular solar panel, It's just ridiculous. Who cares if you got 70% of them still working? The embodied energy cost is just ridiculous. It's still 50% more expensive for something that is already very expensive. Yeah, it's just ridiculous.

Try and get a cost out of what we try and get a cost for it. Benjamin How idiotic. Let's drive over important expensive electric material. It's a bike path.

Oh, God Ian's back for the uneducated masses. The amount of damage done to a road service is proportional to axle weight to the fourth power. Ian's going to town here. He's going to school us with facts.

and Logic the car does 160,000 times as much damage as the bike bikes have rubber tires. Rber tires wear just like car tires wear. all that goes into the grime that goes on top of the solar panel which decreases its efficiency. and then you've got all the vibration like eventually that glue and all the UV that's hit in the glue and everything.

You think these things are going to stay stuck to the that ground for the next 20 years really? And we've already had experience with these solar. Freaking uh, these Cass wway roads just not lasting at all. We already have demonstrable data that shows that these things do not last someone. Good luck with that someone.

Okay, do the calculations with freezing Cycles ice, snow ground heaving settlement, everything else. Where is we know that you know on average a good solar. A proper solar installation on your roof using regular solar panels can last at least 15 20 years. Easy.

My own panels at home have already hit the 10 year mark and then still producing as much energy as they did when I installed them. And because I moved into the Eastern side of the Uh house now they're getting a bit of mold on the bottom of them stuff like that, but they're still working just fine after a decade. I just need to clean the things you know very once a year or something like that I might clean the things and they're still producing the same basically the same power. I Haven't not noticed any um degradation in the output of these things over the last decade.

I'll easily get another 10 years out of them. Anyway, good on you. The Dutch Um yeah please. If you know if they actually spent money on this like the Dutch government, the taxpayer actually spent money.

or is this just another Colas wway Cuz Colas Wway is huge right? Colas? Um, are are huge and their wway uh thing is just like it's just chump change to them right? So they just keep pushing these things out and out and well. I Don't know, but this looks like like a What? A 500 meter path and two installation, Two 500 meter path installation. So if you know where this is like, it's in the middle of the field here. Um I don't know what happen? Well I I presume the Sun comes from this angle over here like this: You don't want to come in from the trees like that.

Um, that would be a uh oh yeah it is. You can see the sun coming over there like that. You see the shadow of the trees there and um yeah, it's a good spot for it. There's the control box.

uh, love to know if they have like a wanky uh you know panel that actually displays the output or if your knife they've hooked it up. ah near some wind farms there. look at that. nice and uh yeah.

so if you know, um if we can track the data for this thing because I'd love to come back in six months 12 months time and look at the biggest solar freaking cycle path in the world and see what its output is now compared to in 6 months 12 months time. because I think you might find it's not that great. Anyway, if you like that video, give it a big thumbs up. As always, discuss down below: catch you next time.

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