The Latest Developments on Solar Shingles
Solar shingles have been out for some time now. If you’re an avid reader of this blog, you may remember us writing about them way back in 2016. As a concept, solar shingles go way back before then. Integrated roofing materials were once the received wisdom, as an endpoint to the evolution of rooftop solar power generation. This was the case in many minds from the very beginning of the technology.
Elon Musk, representing Solar City and Tesla, unveiled their solar roofing tiles in 2016. It seemed that solar roofing materials would take the solar power world by storm within a year or maybe two, but that hasn’t happened. Even while several other companies have gotten in on the solar shingle action with designs of their own, they don’t seem any closer to taking the world by storm with their designs than Tesla does. In this post, we’ll take a look at this radical step forward in solar technology, and examine what the holdup may be.
What Exactly Are Solar Shingles?
Solar shingles, or solar roofing tiles (depending on which product you’re looking at), represent a radical step forward from traditional solar power generating systems. In essence, solar roofs take all of the solar power-generating technology featured in solar panels, and embed it directly in the roofing material itself.
Some of the products look like a flatter version of a solar panel, one that integrates with the traditional roofing materials surrounding it, rather than riding above it. Some look just like the roofing material itself and are designed to be used as a total roofing system, replacing terracotta, slate, asphalt, or cedar shingles.
So Do Solar Shingles Work?
Figuring out what exactly is taking the solar roof so long to make it to market often requires being able to read between the lines of carefully worded official press releases from big manufacturers like Tesla/Solar City and their smaller competitors. The would-be manufacturers of the next roofing material have a vested interest in playing with their cards pretty close to the proverbial vest.
It seems pretty evident that the technology exists and works. Solar roof tiles do function, and several test roofs have already been installed, primarily for Tesla insiders in Northern California. The problem seems to be in the solar shingles (tiles) durability. Engineers are hard at work creating a material that will last as long as standard roofing material (not just a handful of years) while eradicating the need for solar panels.
You May Have to Wait a While for Your Solar-Shingled Roof
You will probably have to wait a bit longer for your solar roof, as luck might have it. For now, though, traditional solar panels are still the way to go. They are cheaper and more efficient than they’ve ever been, after all. While they not be as perfectly invisible as some of the designs for solar shingles that we’ve seen, they are durable and will last as long as the roofing material beneath them, perhaps quite a bit longer.
Tired of waiting around for the technology to get developed? Ready to jumpstart your solar installation business today? What you need is high quality, exclusive solar leads that you buy from RGR Marketing. Get in touch with a qualified representative today and start boosting your business’s bottom line now.
[image via Flickr: Ben West]
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