Admin

Solar Shingles; An Idea To Catch On

Like anything else, it will take more widespread usage and increased competition for pricing to drop, but I would install these in a heartbeat if/when the cost became more reasonable.  idk about anyone else but my utility bill is ridiculous at this point.

Dawn Kurry of Biz Journals writes Solar shingles system comes online in Cary North Carolina. Don Hyatt is the first person in the research triangle, and maybe in the whole state, to install the new DOW solar shingles on his home.

Don Hyatt says people have been stopping by his house to admire the shiny new roof.
"I've been waiting for them to become available in North Carolina," Hyatt says. "It's not like solar panels, which have the big blue rectangles that stick up above everything else and are obtrusive looking. These blend in nicely."

Sun Dollar Energy of Raleigh, owned by Dan Lezama, installed shingles on the roof of a home which double as solar panels. ... “It’s a building integrated PV (photo-voltaic) module,” explains Lezama. “Solar panel and listed roofing material in one. It’s perfect for a new home or a home that needs a new roof and the HOA won’t allow for traditional solar panels.”

Lezama says the installation wasn’t easy, and the cost of materials was “double or more” than what he pays for solar panels. He says he hand-nailed all 306 solar shingles onto the roof himself. He’s already got another solar shingles customer in Chapel Hill, and others in Cary have expressed their interest, he says. The Cary homeowner needed to replace his roof, and decided after researching the product to up the ante. The total cost of the system is $15,000.

DOW Powerhouse claims the shingles are hail-resistant, and wind and storm resistance.

Here we see residential solar photo-voltaic applications becoming more sophisticated and evolving to adapt to special niche - such as places where Home Owner Associations forbid bulky traditional solar PV installations. These panels are apparently commercially listed as a building material - a shingle to get around these regulations.

And, now there are 12 installers certified by DOW to install their product in North Carolina. We see here several signs of an industry maturing into the mainstream.

Courtesy of Dailykos

E-mail me when people leave their comments –

You need to be a member of StockBuz to add comments!

Join StockBuz

We welcome you to post a blog entry, oped or share your daily reading with us as long as it is relevant to the topic of investing and not an attempt to sell a product, proprietary strategy, platform or other service. Please provide links to any research data and if re-posting other articles, give credit where credit is due providing a back link to the original site.

300 words minimum per post. You may also sort by category or search by topic. Don't forget to comment and please "share" via Facebook, Twitter and Google+. If you have any questions, please contact us.

FOLLOW STOCKBUZ

__________________

This is a member-supported site. Please donate when you can to help pay the rent. Thank you!

Stay Informed. Sign up for the FREE StockBuz eNewsletter

________________

Investing involves substantial risk. All content is subject to StockBuz disclaimer.

Create Income With Option Spreads

All content on StockBuz.net is subject to disclaimer and Terms of Service