GAF solar shingles

[eabyrd]

This new solar shingle can get nailed right on to your roof

You don’t need to install solar panels on your roof if your roof is already made of solar panels.

www.fastcompany.com

This piqued my interest so I thought I would share

 

[sunshine_eggo]

Interesting.

Unfortunately, those panels have no way to shed heat. They're probably going to run hot, produce less power and not last as long as a typical rigid panel installation.

 

[Kornbread]

Good catch. I like that a 'big' player is capable of thinking outside the box. Too many organizations are stuck in their own rut and it eventually catches up to them. Heck, they even do the paperwork and have an EE ok the project

 

[iamrich]

I wonder how these hook into the home electrical system? I am all for anything that adds additional capacity to the grid, is simple to install/maintain, and most importantly is cost effective. There are 77 million single family homes in the USA, and I would bet every single one of them has enough room for 2kw of solar on the roof. I am not a math wiz, but if we could milk 1kwh a day out of each of these systems, it would be 77 million kwh of power added to the grid every day, which is 28 billion kwh a year? Probably a drop in the bucket compared to actual usage, but I would think it would allow a reduction in capacity from fossil fuel plants. And hopefully a 2kw system could generate more than 1 kwh per day.