Wood and asphalt shingles are so last century! Solar shingles, made of solar cells, function like conventional shingles, but help bring down that nasty energy bill. Most Solar Shingles are 12 inches wide (when stacked have 5 inches of exposed area) by 86 inches long and can be stapled directly to the roofing cloth. Although solar shingles are more expensive to install than typical PV panels, solar shingles offset the cost of traditional shingles for that section of the roof.
Vaguhn Prost, who works for Missouri Solar Applications, says, “If you had one of these arrays on your home, it would produce about half of your electricity that you’d need for your average home. In the coming years, I think that people will look at solar shingles on their house as something as normal as having plumbing inside their house.”
August 14th, 2009 at 9:46 am
Questions:
1. How does one calculate the amount of roof cover needed for say a 2600 square foot house?
2. A roof still has to perform as a roof. How do these shingles perform in other respects? ie wind performance, service life etc
3. Is there a Roofing contractor or other business who can supply and install these in the Austin TX area?
January 24th, 2010 at 9:09 pm
SOlar SHingles should be a larger focus on your website as they offer some advantages for homeowners. The manuf who made the shingles you picture no longer produces them but there are operating manufacturers.
DOW just announced their DoW Powerhouse Solar shingles. You might add them with more definitive information about them.