Starry Sky Below, Dark Sky Above
November 15, 2014 9:53 AM   Subscribe

Glowing 'Van Gogh' Bike Path It seems to be a trend in the Netherlands. They also recently unveiled another bike path called SolaRoad that produces solar power.
posted by Michele in California (18 comments total) 7 users marked this as a favorite
 
Those solar bike paths are really dumb. Extremely expensive, don't really produce a lot of energy, and won't last very long. It'd be cheaper and more efficient to build covered bike paths with solar cells on the roof and overhead lighting.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 10:00 AM on November 15, 2014 [4 favorites]


But... the poetry.
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 10:02 AM on November 15, 2014 [2 favorites]


If a community wanted to double the cost of a Starry Night bike path and decrease its longevity to less than a second, they could just buy one cruise missile.
posted by Oyéah at 10:23 AM on November 15, 2014 [3 favorites]


Van Glow?
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 10:27 AM on November 15, 2014 [1 favorite]


Hey, at least they're spending money on infrastructure.
posted by Salvor Hardin at 10:29 AM on November 15, 2014 [1 favorite]


These paths are awesome and a great start for exercise, aesthetics and conservation. I own a solar butterfly. I discovered if I left it outdoors all day, it would light my kitchen and hallway all night. Solar doesn't have to be on the grid or answer to critics who measure efficiency by grid standards. There could be solar lighting over every urban concourse, walkway, bike path, unless the city canyons it off daylight. These paths, again are beautiful
posted by Oyéah at 10:30 AM on November 15, 2014 [2 favorites]


SolaRoad is bullshit. Let Dave from EEVBlog show you in detail. (Dave is very verbose and talks too much, but his numbers are legit).
posted by sixohsix at 10:37 AM on November 15, 2014


"The path is made of concrete modules with solar cells and covered with a thin layer of tempered glass."

Maybe better as a walking path. For fun. Or at least use frosted glass. Or three wheels. Being atop glass with only two points of contact where it is wet and cold and frequently near the freezing temperature of water, as it is in Einhoven, seems asking for cracked skulls and broken tailbones.

My objection isn't to solar, my objection is to having wet or partially frozen glass as an interface between tires and/or feet.
posted by vapidave at 10:44 AM on November 15, 2014 [1 favorite]


Jesus. Does Dave ever get to point?
posted by notyou at 10:46 AM on November 15, 2014


It would seem that elevated solar road coverings would be a better approach for developing contact charging methods for public electric buses, etc. It could also harvest rain water in places that need it, and shade the road.
posted by Brian B. at 10:50 AM on November 15, 2014 [1 favorite]


SolaRoad is bullshit. Let Dave from EEVBlog show you in detail. (Dave is very verbose and talks too much, but his numbers are legit).

I'm a big fan of Dave but really hated this video. His argument boils down to "it'd be more efficient to put the same panel on a roof", which is obviously true, but doesn't make the concept invalid. The number he uses for installation cost is completely made up, and even then it appears to break even, which he glosses over in the name of a rant.
posted by grahamparks at 11:04 AM on November 15, 2014


I suppose both types of roads utilize solar energy in their own way. I think the general assessment, though, is the paths that are themselves solar panels are horribly inefficient and expensive with very little return. The glow-in-the-dark ones, however, are effective at making path visible at night, is a better use of solar energy in this context, and it's pretty to boot! Do these materials continue to work indefinitely or is there a pretty short lifespan on their effectiveness? I'm guessing this is the old-fashioned glo-in-the-dark material, not some fancier tritium mixture or other radioluminescence.
posted by GoblinHoney at 11:10 AM on November 15, 2014 [1 favorite]


Here's another cool picture of the Van Gogh bike path that also shows the solar charged led lights along the sides.

It looks as though the glow-in-the-dark material isn't the typical material used in consumer products that wears out after a short while, although I'll be damned if I can find any details of this material. It is also used in Dutch glow-in-the-dark roadways.

Designer Daan Roosegaarde is also working on living, glowing trees, as replacements for streetlights.
posted by eye of newt at 12:39 PM on November 15, 2014 [3 favorites]


that path is so pretty, it would be such a pleasure to go for midnight walks. Even if it's not the most efficient use of resources, I think that the beauty adds to it's value.
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 12:55 PM on November 15, 2014 [1 favorite]


Designer Daan Roosegaarde is also working on living, glowing trees , as replacements for streetlights.

“Just at present you only see the tree by the light of the lamp. I wonder when you would ever see the lamp by the light of the tree.”
posted by carrioncomfort at 12:58 PM on November 15, 2014 [2 favorites]


Those solar bike paths are really dumb. Extremely expensive, don't really produce a lot of energy, and won't last very long. It'd be cheaper and more efficient to build covered bike paths with solar cells on the roof and overhead lighting.
Both these projects are tests. The bicycle paths made are very short, relative to normal bicycle paths in the Netherlands. Such tests are never cost effective, because they do not aim to be cost effective. They are done to see what kind of knowledge they may deliver.

There are many prejudices against bicycles and bicyclists in the world, that always seem dumb and uninformed to me. The Dutch initiatives are at least civilized attempts to make the world a bit nicer, and perhaps better.
posted by ijsbrand at 2:16 PM on November 15, 2014 [11 favorites]


From a write-up on Huffington Post,
Correction: An earlier edition of this article stated Roosegaarde employed biomimicry in his work. The piece has been amended to clarify he was inspired by it.
He's inspired by Dr. Krichevsky's work.

Turns out glowing plants are real! But only available currently as indoor ornaments with a 3 month life cycle(?). From the company's FAQ page,
How adaptable are Starlight Avatar™ plants outdoors?

The Starlight Avatar™ variety is an ornamental plant variety that is recommended for in-house growth. Starlight Avatar™ autoluminescent plants are expected to be less adaptable than their non-autoluminescent counterparts due to metabolically taxing light emission mechanism.
posted by ana scoot at 12:37 AM on November 16, 2014 [2 favorites]


Van Glow?

Van Gogh does not rhyme with glow or go.
posted by Too-Ticky at 9:14 AM on November 16, 2014


« Older Catching the catchers   |   Treadmill for sale, shrimp not included. Newer »


This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments