Energy Costs & Savings
Solar Roofing Grabs the Light
As consumers increasingly demand conservation minded building materials, companies are rolling out new products.
By Jim Ostroff, Associate Editor, The Kiplinger Letter
July 15, 2010
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On the horizon: A novel solar roofing system with appeal for homeowners. Its shingles and tiles incorporate photovoltaic materials that convert sunlight into volts. The palette of colors and styles available range from flat slabs to curvy mansard tiles and will go a long way toward ameliorating concerns of homeowner associations that ban conventional, bulky solar panels that squat on rooftops.
The new systems offer more than better aesthetics. They’re also more flexible, so they can cover entire roofs, including eaves, porches and irregular spaces, to capture more power. That translates into more hours each year when residents may be able to get by without buying electricity from the local power company or even sell electricity to the utility and watch the meter run backward.
Dow Chemical will soon roll out solar shingles, offering an additional advantage to would-be buyers: They can be installed by any roofing contractor on a new or existing roof. An electrician is needed only for the final plug-in, reducing the overall installation cost. Other companies, such as Lumeta, OkSolar.com, SRS Energy, SunPower and Suntech, offer similar power generating shingles and tiles, but an electrician is needed to wire each one.
All systems funnel the direct current produced by photovoltaic materials into an inverter box in the house, which converts the juice to alternating current.
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Reader Comments (4)
Posted by: ECD Fan at 07/16/2010 12:59:29 PM
No, consumers do not demand overpriced, underperforming products! For example, Dow revealed that they intend to price their solar shingles for $2.90 per Watt "after subsidies," ( www.forbes.com/forbes/2010/0426/energy-solar-dow-chemical-cells-cigs-roofs-for-rich-green-people.html ) while regular PV panels (which, by the way are also more efficient) can now be bought retail at $1.82 per Watt BEFORE subsidies ( sunelec.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=5&products_id=807 ). Oh, and, yeah, those Dow shingles will cost $10 per sq ft, AFTER subsidies! Finally, let's not forget that those solar shingles are not UL certified yet, meaning they could fall apart after the first rain (yeah, the photovoltaic material Dow are using is notoriously sensitive to moisture). But at least Dow's shingles will probably home some tolerable efficiency on module level (9%?). SRS Energy's shingles (made of plastic), on the other hand, have a record-low efficiency of 5%, meaning you need to cover almost 3x as much roof area with them to generate the electricity one gets from regular solar panels. Solar shingles are a scam - even ignoring their lower efficiency, they will underperform regular PV panels by up to 20% due to lack of optimal tilt and ventilation, yet they will cost 2x (or more). Let's not forget what happened with the "previous" generation of "award-winning" solar shingles - Unisolar's SHR-17 - that went on sale in 1998 - they eventually lost their UL certification and were taken off the market. Shame on Kiplinger for publishing such a poorly researched article!
Posted by: miller27 at 07/16/2010 07:10:22 PM
At what price...??? Will it be affordable for the "regular" homeowner???
Posted by: Jim Ostroff at 07/21/2010 02:24:27 PM
Note that we have NOT endorsed any BIPV system; said only that these will have appeal for homeowners. Key points: solar tiles and shingles will permit many consumers to install PV systems who can't now due to homeowner association restrictions. Total costs must be considered. Installation expenses can be thousands of dollars less with BIPV systems than conventional ones. These systems also are generally better than conventional roof PV ones at producing electricity during cloudy and very hot days. BIPV also is unique in that it can be integrated into the sides of buildings and as thin-film varieties, replace glass windows. No reputable vendor of solar tile/shingle would sell these products without UL certification. As with every big ticket product, consumers should do their homework: get price and performance comparisons; obtain references for the company selling the product and the one installing it.
Posted by: John Valan at 08/06/2010 08:29:23 AM
YOU DO NOT NEED AN ELECTRICIAN TO INSTALL ANY SOLAR COMPONENTS. SIMPLY..... DO IT YOUR SELF.... DO NOT TIE IT INTO THE GRID. FORGET THE INVERTER.... GO WITH DC APPLIANCES / BATTERIES AND CHARGE CONTROLLERS. EASY BUTTON!