Comment Re:Thermodynamically Impossible (Score 1) 311
Solar powered melting devices have two advantages over blacktop from a thermodynamic perspective:
- Blacktop conducts part of the collected heat into the ground, whereas solar collection could hypothetically collect the energy before it gets to the ground, leaving more available to radiate back upward.
- When it isn't snowing, blacktop still radiates into the air above it. These devices could store energy to be released only when it's actually snowing.
That said, implementing these devices as anything other than a billionaire's ruinously expensive driveway seems impractical. The actual devices would be absurdly expensive to produce in that quantity with the amount of semiconductor fabrication and precision assembly. Ignoring materials, installation would cost much more than a normal highway, since this essentially combines the labor-intensiveness of a cobblestone road with the specialized labor requirements of a hardwood floor. Lastly, that energy storage mechanism that makes it remotely feasible would be similar to replacing the fuel tanks at every gas station with the batteries of a Tesla charging station.