Sun Is The Future

If you are in favor of renewable/CLEAN energy, please sign the petition page showing support for FIT/CLEAN Program at http://sunisthefuture.net/?page_id=1065 Thank you.

For many years, in my fantasy world, all homes and buildings would be self-sufficient in terms of energy use, via solar cells in roof shingles, windows, and even paint. I have discovered that this no longer needs to remain in the fantasy world, but now is ready to surface into the reality, thanks to companies such as Dow Chemical, DowSolar’s solar shingles. Solar shingled roofs have a deep dark, purplish-blue color, and therefore look quite similar to other roofs. Solar shingles (photovoltaic shingles) are solar cells designed to look like conventional asphalt shingles.  There are several varieties of solar shingles, including shingle-sized solid panels that take the place of a number of conventional shingles in a strip, semi-rigid designs containing several silicon solar cells that are sized more like conventional shingles, and newer systems using various thin film solar cell technologies that match conventional shingles both in size and flexibility.  Currently, Solar shingles are manufactured by companies including (Ecotech) ecotechshingles.com, SunPower Corporation, United Solar Ovonic (Uni-Solar), Solar Components Corporation, Atlantis Energy Systems, and Dow Chemical.

All photovoltaic power is produced in the form of direct current (DC). Homes use alternating current (AC). Therefore part of the cost of installation of solar shingles is the price of an inverter to make the conversion.

Older solar shingle designs were more expensive to install than traditional PV panels, but new, more efficient designs such as thin-film copper indium gallium selenide (CuIn_xGa_(1-x)Se₂) cells can be installed in 10 hours, compared with the 22 to 30 hours required for the installation of traditional panels. The lower cost of installation dramatically reduces the cost of solar power implementation.

Large homebuilders in California like Lennar are partnering with SunPower to offer new construction solar homes that have solar systems installed prior to moving in. Reducing the overhead and using solar roof tile technology makes solar a standard option like granite countertops, making solar an affordable solution to reduce electricity costs.

I have prepared a video clip for  you, available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCClje-k7g4   to get you used to the idea of Solar Shingles.

Please look into the possibility of how you may be able to incorporate these solar shingles into your life/homes in conjunction with all federal tax credits, state incentives mentioned in previous posts of Incentive For Solar series.  More clips will be forthcoming.  We are certainly living in a very dynamic world!

Posted by sunisthefuture-Susan Sun Nunamaker, sunisthefuture@gmail.com
Homepage: http://sunisthefuture.net http://sunisthefuture.com http://sunisthefuture.org
Some of the data and information above are provided by Wikipedia

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Tags: CA, CIGS, clean energy, Copper indium gallium selenide, Dow Chemical, Dow solar shingles, feed-in-tariff, homebuilders, Incentive for solar, Lennar, renewable energy, Solar Energy, Solar Shingle, Sun Is The Future, Sun Power, sunisthefuture, sunisthefuture.com, sunisthefuture.net, SunPower, susan sun nunamaker

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 26th, 2011 at 3:07 AM and is filed under Business & Opprotunity, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.