Solar Roofing Tiles: A Stylish Solution for Sustainable Living
Move over, traditional solar panels. A better-looking, more efficient solar product is coming to a roof near you!
SRS Energy has designed an attractive roofing product that blends right in with roofing tiles many of us are familiar with. Sole Power Tiles, touted as being the first ever “building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) roofing product designed for curved roofing systems”, made its grand debut at the American Institute of Architects 2009 National Convention and Design Exposition earlier this year.
SRS Energy has teamed up with the largest American manufacturer of 100 percent recyclable, all-natural clay roofing tiles, US Tile. Using cutting edge technology, the two companies have created several unique styles of products that seamlessly integrate with curved roofing tiles. The tiles provide a cost-effective alternative for homeowners by using renewable power to generate electricity without the bulky look of traditional solar panels.
Sole Power Tiles are electricity-generating tiles installed with traditional clay tile products. Using a flexible solar cell by UNI-SOLAR, the Sole Power Tiles are used on about 20 to 25 percent of the roof and produce 500 watts per 100 square feet. Each tile measures about 33 by 18 inches and is lighter than traditional ceramic tiles. The thin Sole Power Tile generates more energy than other comparable products, is non-toxic and comes with a full warranty. The companies have designed the product in such a way that if one of the solar tiles fails, the rest of the tiles will continue to function. Although blue is the only color that is currently available, other colors are expected.
Lumenta also has a line of tiles that can be used on either flat or sloped roofs. Solar S Tiles are created for profiled tile roof systems and are available in the “most popular clay and concrete tile colors.” Solar Flat Tiles are used with conventional clay and concrete products for flat roofs and are also available in several colors. The electrical wires on the 28-watt tiles are hidden in grooves on the bottom of the tiles, protecting them from weather while keeping them out of view.
Solar roofing tiles provide another cost-effective, eco-friendly alternative for homeowners.
Image courtesy of US Tile
Jace Shoemaker-Galloway is a fulltime freelance writer and online safety educator. Over the years, she taught technology and Internet safety to more than 1000 children in her school district.
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You are the latest victim of the blatant marketing fraud!
Dear author:
You are the latest victim of the blatant marketing fraud perpetrated by SRS Energy. That fraud has been exposed here:
http://ecdfan.blogspot.com/2009/06/marketing-of-solar-tile.html
The dark blue "solar tile" is nether stylish nor more efficient. It looks horrendous next to the painted clay tiles, and, because it uses the inferior Unisolar technology, its "module-level" efficiency is less than 6%. Worse, because it is curved and it does not face the Sun optimally, the actual electricity generation is much lower ("effective" efficiency can get below 4%). Compare to the 19%-efficiency of a SunPower glass PV panel, for example, that faces the Sun at optimal tilt. In other words, you need up to 5 square feet covered with these tiles to get as much electricity as one square foot of "regular" solar panel tilted optimally. Read more details in the blog post referenced above.
The color of the solar tiles CANNOT be changed - the atrocious blue comes from the PV material - it is not a choice.
Solar roofing tiles CANNOT provide cost-effective, eco-friendly alternative for homeowners. They are a waste of PV material. Especially the curved ones. PV solar is too expensive to be glued at suboptimal tilts - it has to be oriented at an optimal angle to the Sun to even have a fighting chance to pay off. SRS Energy's "solution" is more expensive than regular solar panels, which now can be installed for $4 per Watt all-in costs (panels, racks, inverter, labor, all combined), while just the tiles themselves will cost more than $4 per Watt (and the labor required to install each of these 17W things will triple the cost). And, of course, there is nothing eco-friendly about plastic tiles made from hydrocarbons.