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The stupidity that just won't die! Solar Cycleways and other snake oil!! (Patreon)

Published:
2015-06-01 00:16:42
Imported:
2026-06
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Content

Its honestly infuriating to see how, AFTER there has been media put out there that comprehensibly debunks some snake oil/ pseudoscience, that you still get 'science journalists' giving this BS good press.


The latest of these was the Danish solar cycleway project which got me LOADS of comments along the lines of 'ACTUALLY solar cycleways not only work, they generate more energy than expected'.

Then when you look into it, no, they generate about half the energy that those same solar panels would generate if they were simply put on the roof.  Plus because of the more exotic manufacture process they will take a LOT longer to break even.


Many thanks to all those who supported this video through Patreon!

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The stupidity that just won't die! Solar Cycleways and other snake oil!!

This stuff really does drive me up the wall! The sheer scientific illiteracy of the media! So a week or so ago, we had all these stories about how 'solar cycleways in the Netherlands had generated more energy than expected'.

Comments

Anonymous

Even if the levitation of buildings made sense, imagine all the problems when the energy stored in the mechanics of the materials is released when the buildings separate from their moorings. Instead of buildings shaking, we would have buildings smacking into each other at high speed on an essentially frictionless plane.

Anonymous

My co-worker has a bachelors in engineering from Syracuse. I brought this up to him and he was sworn in that they have a "special" material so it would not get worn down and provide traction to rubber tires. I had to just drop it at that before getting into how inefficient it really is. This "special" materiel sounds like the work of a carpenter who gave his life for something or other. ;)

Anonymous

Another great video ThunderF00t. However it's such a shame for to have to keep making videos on the same subjects because some people cannot realize fiction from truth.

Anonymous

Skeptics Guide to the Universe did a good analysis on this too

Anonymous

Thanks TF, great video. I love how Ms. Santa Maria refutes arguments by saying that the calculations were done by you and not somebody else whom I guess she considers, I don't know, better at math or something. Maybe next time she should refute the argument by actually reviewing the calculations and saying why she thinks they are wrong? Perhaps in her mind the only correct calculations are the ones that support the "plastic out of air" claims?

EEVblog

Nice work Phil! Yep, I just had to do that new Solaroad.nl video because of all the youtube comments on my previous SolarRoadways videos from people going "Ha-Ha!, told you so, it works!" But even with the new video they proceed to once again try and pick apart small issues in the calcs, or stubbornly keep saying that "I don't get it" because generating *some* power from a road is better than generating nothing from the road. *face palm* The true solar roadways religious believers will never admit it's not viable.

EEVblog

"No backing evidence except his own calculations"! Wow, how could any science communicator hold their head up in public after that? And coming from a person with a masters degree in science! Hilariously embarrassing.

Anonymous

Once again another spot on video. Great Job Thunderf00t!

Matthew Colgan
>>541069

It is rather depressing, seeing a woman otherwise so brilliant, pulling an inverted broken clock whenever something contradicts her philosophy. She's not all wrong about women on the internet mind you, but if something science related contradicts her ideology, she turns into someone indistinguishable from Rebecca Watson.

Anonymous

Please watch the TEDx talk from the creator of the hoverboard Greg Henderson, to understand how levitation of buildings and such actually works and makes sense: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAS4fUm5oBk" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAS4fUm5oBk</a> You are making the same errors as the press and people who are uninformed: you are not thinking about the facts enough. Take the hoverboard as an example. What we all imagine is a skateboard that can basically fly, just like in the movie Back To The Future, because that makes intuitively sense to us. But this is not real, it is not in line with the facts of technology and physical limits. The actual hoverboard that Henderson developed and marketed exactly shows this. It is unimpressive, not so much fun and has a lot of limits. If you watch more of his videos and interviews, you will notice that it is actually just a marketing strategy (and a future goal of his) to claim the impressive. Thereby he intents to get people interested in the technology and think out of the box, which he openly mentions. He is not deceiving people with his ideas, but he wants them to understand the very fact that technology is real and our fantasy preconceptions are not. Maybe this is just too smart for people and society as a whole to process properly. Now you are maybe beginning to understand, that what you intuitively imagine when hearing about levitating buildings and protecting from floods etc., is equally as phantastical and nonsensical as the hoverboard from Back To The Future. That is because you are uninformed. You just cannot make sense of this information. So you try to choke it by denying it, making it sound ridiculous and stupid. Just like people did when they thought of the earth as round or when they thought of ghosts, magic and metaphysics. Through not accepting but denying ideas that you cannot understand to begin with, you prevent yourself from developing other nonsense ideas based on an uninformed and non-scientific opinion, that cannot be translated into the real world properly. But other people are not like this. They will make it up to you to take the responsibility of making sense and free their beliefs of the systems you are trying so hard to establish. They will spin the ideas wildly in their heads, based on simple mammalian impulses, and even develop/promote technology that makes little sense to begin with. Like pursuing friendly and submissive solar panels or wind turbines, instead of the threatening dominant nuclear reactors, which are too powerful and poisonous in their perception. This is how safe nuclear technology never develops and we as a collective instead chase after generating energy out of thin air. Mammalian cognitive bias systems. So please stop being a mammal for a moment and look at the greater picture. But when you finished looking, please also come back to make sense to all your other mammal friends again.