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Comment by giantg2 | Hacker News Reader

Do we have a sustainable solution for 'green' roads? Or are we going to continue using asphalt and concrete? And of course there's the source of the electricity for charging. Those affect warming too. I wouldn't call it really green if it still relies heavily on non-green tech to operate. Maybe a step in the right direction, but the overall system it requires to operate in is still 'dirty', with no end in sight.

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Exactly. If this Kurzgesagt video is to be believed, then the average road costs as much carbon to build PER METRE (!!) as it takes to produce one car:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiw6_JakZFc

Heavier vehicles like trucks (and EVs are heavier in general) cause much quicker degradation of roads. And doubling down on private vehicle use with EVs is going to increase demand for roads across the board. It's just so far from a useful solution to go down this route.

While I do not know how much carbon is created during the recycling asphalt is nearly 100% recyclable.

My point is that asphalt is petroleum based, absorbs heat from the sun, and requires energy to heat it when building.

We can generate heat with electricity.

That could be viable, but would only solve half the issue assuming the electricity was 100% renewable. Then you still have the solar absorption problem.

> Then you still have the solar absorption problem.

What do you mean, lower albedo?

Yes

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