Since Solar Roadways reached full funding, many news outlets — ourselves included — have thrown serious shade at the idea that the country might eventually be covered with light-up solar panels.
The founders of Solar Roadways, Scott and Julie Brusaw, have responded to the criticism with a counter-argument/rant on the Solar Roadways site which they’ve titled “Clearing the Freakin’ Air.”
In the post, the Brusaws portray the media as waging an “unprofessional” and “deliberately misleading” campaign “to lead people astray.” The Brusaws seem to think journalists only point out flaws in the Solar Roadways vision in order to nab more pageviews.
“Haters are going to hate,” the post says. “Nothing we can do about that.”
Some of the points Mr. Brusaw brings up are legitimate. As the post says, it’s a little silly to say that LED lights can’t be seen during the day — anyone who has to trudge through Time Square during a morning commute can refute that.
But some of the founders’ grievances only paint half of the picture of the roadblocks that stand in the way of the project’s success.
For example, the post says that Solar Roadways definitely won’t cost $60 trillion, as Equities.com estimated. But they also don’t say how much it will cost, and even a few trillion dollars would be dozens of times the total budget for the Federal Highway Administration.
The Brusaws also point out that current roadways aren’t as cheap and maintainable as some news outlets claim, but pointing out how costly it is to maintain our current roads only shows how absurd it is to propose an even more expensive system.
Nevertheless, fans of the project aren’t deterred, and continue to throw cash at the Indiegogo campaign. After extending the campaign, the project has gone on to raise $2 million, which is double the initial goal. The campaign page says these funds will be used to redouble the efforts to manufacture more and more panels — no matter what the haters say.
