Roofer takes solar to the next level

Real neat story
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In essence they become part of the roof itself. They can be walked on, rained on, and since the glue is so strong -- it requires over 600 pounds of force to remove a panel -- hurricane-prone Miami-Dade County has approved their use.

Thinner than cardboard, the strips produce energy from the sun's blue, green and red spectrums even on cloudy days.

Sutter's 188 panels lay side-by-side on the roof of its 35,000-square-foot building east of Interstate 75, put down in clusters that avoid the skylights.

The converts the direct current to alternating current and produces up to half of the electricity Sutton uses on an average workday.

It can produce all of the energy the company uses on the weekends, when fewer people are in the building.

"It is in effect our own power station," said B. Thomas Henry, Sutter's chief financial officer. "We only buy from FPL when we need to."

...
In a commercial setting, the system costs about $200,000 for every 5,000 square feet, which produces enough energy in 12 months to power four average-sized homes for a year.

http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20080811/ARTICLE/808110307/2107&title=Roofer_takes_solar_to_the_next_level

Still a little pricey for the average person.

Add amortization, maintanence and insurance, and your electric bill is costing $450 a month.

I went to the company web site:
http://www.uni-solar.com/interior.asp?id=100

I think it's their Eco series of framed modules and the data sheet states a warranty period of 20 years. The article has a pay off period of 10 years and 15 more years of service life. My understanding is that for companies to offer 20 year warranty, their tests indicate a service life of twice that or 40 years. And that's for 40 years at rated output. Not a major deal but free electricity for 30 years after the break even point makes for a different decision. And that's at today's cost of electricity.

They have a number of different products. In addition to the product you mention, they have "http://www.google.com/search?q=uni-solar+shingles">solar shingles" and peel-and-stick http://www.uni-solar.com/interior.asp?id=102">rolls meant to be applied to metal roofing.
http://www.blog.thesietch.org/2007/03/09/installing-thin-film-solar-on-metal-roof-easier-than-falling-off-a-log/

I just tried to use what little info was in the article - plus the picture in the article - to figure out which product the article was about. Being a visual person - the pictures looked the same.

The point I was trying to make was the longivitiy of the PV products. If a PV product breaks even in 10 years, there is a big difference between a service life of 25 and 40 years. Plus with PV, rated life just means the rated output for the warranty period. Just like windmills, PV will continue to create energy past the rated lifespan of the product, just not as effeciently.

Check out the video of segment 3:
http://vvi.onstreammedia.com/cgi-bin/visearch?user=pbs-saf&template=template.html&squery=Hydrogen+Hopes

Going on to using algae to clean flue gases on a coal fired electric plant. The algae absorbed the nitrous oxides and CO2, use the heat from the flue gases to dry the algae, and in the video they talk about going to hydrogen from there.

Thanks for the link.

Although you need not necessarily go to hydrogen with the algae, any more than you need to produce hydrogen from the solar power.

Beside Valcent - what companies are working on this? The video showed a mock up of large algae reactor on the site of a coal fired plant - are there demonstration plants of this size out there yet?

I don't know what size their first unit will be like, but here's an old thread on the subject: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=115x165473

:)

Mother Earth News Article (Aug/Sep 2008): Solar Energy - Why It's Better Than Ever.
http://www.motherearthnews.com/Renewable-Energy/2008-08-01/Solar-Energy-Advantages.aspx

which is a reprint of this article run last November:

The New Age of Photovoltaics
http://www.taunton.com/finehomebuilding/PDF/Free/021192056.pdf

Products:


Sunslates from Atlantis Energy ( http://www.atlantisenergy.org )
I like these aesthetically.
More pics - http://www.atlantisenergy.org/sunslates2.html




Mygen Meridian by Kyocera
http://www.kyocerasolar.com/products/meridian.html



http://www.sunpowercorp.com/Products-and-Services/~/media/Images/for_products_services/suntile_feature.ashx
Suntiles by Sun Power Corp.
http://www.sunpowercorp.com/Products-and-Services.aspx




Nicely fit into a standing seam metal roof using thin film solar laminates
that come in a roll and stick directly to the metal.
http://www.oksolar.com/panels/unisolar_structural_solar_modules.html

How To Install It Yourself (video)
http://www.blog.thesietch.org/2007/03/09/installing-thin-film-solar-on-metal-roof-easier-than-falling-off-a-log/


Listing of Solar Panels
http://www.oksolar.com/solar_panels/uni-solar.htm

UniSolar laminate roll:
http://www.uni-solar.com/interior.asp?id=102


Standing Seam Metal Roofs with Solar
http://www.solarmetalroofinginfo.com/

http://metalbuildingdeveloper.com/Default.aspx?PublicationID=4&ArticleID=58&Title=Energizing+the+Industry%3A+Building-integrated+PVs+Take+Commercial+Metal+Roofing+to+New+Level+of+Sustainability

The type of solar panels used in roofing materials are called "Amorphous" silicon, as opposed to crystalline. Amorphous panels are generally more expensive, less efficient, and they degrade over time. Also if there is a problem with one of the sections it can be a project to replace it. Hopefully the manufacturer is still around by then and offering the same type of panel to replace it.

On the other hand, traditional crystalline panels are less expensive, more efficient (take up less room) and last a lifetime. If one goes out, you can go buy another one from another brand or whatever is the best deal at the time. You can mount them on your roof, or on the ground next to your house if your roof is shaded.

these roofing panels are "sexy" but to me they propogate the falsehood that traditional solar panels are unsightly. Solar panels are cool and they look cool. why hide the fact that you are using solar energy by spending more for a roofing product?

Gary