These are Tesla’s stunning new solar roof tiles for homes
Tesla founder and CEO ElonMusk wasn’t kidding when he said that the new Tesla solar roof product wasbetter looking than an ordinary roof:
the roofing replacement withsolar energy gathering powers does indeed look great.
It’s a far cry from the obvious and somewhatweird aftermarket panels you see applied to roofs after the fact today.
The solar roofing comes infour distinct styles that Tesla presented at the event, including “TexturedGlass Tile,” “Slate Glass Tile,” “Tuscan Glass Tile,
and “Smooth Glass Tile.” Each of theseachieves a different aesthetic look, but all resembled fairly closely a currentroofing material style.
Each is also transparent to solar, but appearsopaque when viewed from an angle.
The current versions of thetiles actually have a two percent loss on efficiency, so 98 percent of whatyou’d normally get from a traditional solar panel, according to Elon Musk.
But the company is workingwith 3M on improved coatings that have the potential to possibly go abovenormal efficiency, since it could trap the light within,
leading to it bouncing aroundand resulting in less energy loss overall before it’s fully diffused.
Of course, there’s the matterof price:
Tesla’s roof cost lessthan the full cost of a roof and electricity will be competitive or better thanthe cost of a traditional roof combined with the cost of electricity from thegrid, Musk said.
Tesla declined to providespecific pricing at the moment, since it will depend on a number of factorincluding installation specifics on a per home basis.
With the increasingpopularity of solar as tax incentives and the decrease in installation costsentice homeowners, Ken & Donna Sances got solar on their Weymouth home lastwinter.
In less than six years,solar-friendly policies and tax incentives have more than tripled sun-poweredgeneration of electricity in
Massachusetts and given a boost to a Hinghambusiness that sells and installs solar panels.
Amergy Solar is based in NewJersey, and its South Shore outpost in Hingham has grown in recent years fromjust a few employees to more than 30,
said regional sales manager Joel Rayberg.
The market for solar energyis driven almost entirely by homeowners who want to save money on theirelectric bills by
harnessing the sunshine from an array of solarpanels bolted onto their rooftops, said Rayberg.
Residential solarinstallations vary in size and can produce between 2 and 20 kilowatts ofelectricity per year.
A system that generates 10 kilowatts producesjust a little more electricity than the average household in Massachusettsconsumes annually,
according to the State Department of EnergyResources.
A federal tax break allowsproperty owners who buy a solar energy system to take a 30 percent tax creditfor the cost of buying and installing the panels.
Massachusetts also offers taxcredits, and last year, Gov. Charlie Baker launched a $30 million low-interestloan program aimed
specifically at residentialproperty owners who can tap fixed-rate loans of between $3,000 and $60,000.
Fixed-rate loans under theprogram are 3 percent or less.
“This is why Massachusetts isthriving,” said Rayberg, who explained that most solar installations cost$15,000 to $35,000.
State energy officials saidthe cost of solar panels and the labor to install them has fallen by nearly 50percent since 2009,
also helping to increase thereach of solar energy to homeowners.
More than 36,000 residentialand small-scale solar systems are installed across nearly every city and townin Massachusetts.
Over the last five years, thestate has consistently ranked 4th or 5th in the U.S. for solar megawattsinstalled, according to state energy data.
Energy officials also saidthat solar energy in the state has the capacity to power 150,000 homes a year.
From a marketing perspective,Amergy Solar is scouting for those houses in Greater Boston ideally situatedfor sun power. It’s not an easy threshold to reach.
“Only two out of 10 housesqualify to go solar,” said Rayberg, explaining that too many trees or toolittle roof space can quickly scuttle the solar option.
“The goal is to find something with enoughroof space, then load it up with south-facing panels.”
Rayberg and his team rely onSolar Pathfinder software to analyze a specific property’s access to sunshineand its capacity to generate solar energy.
“Every house looks like theperfect house for solar in the middle of August,” said Rayberg.
About 80 percent of hiscustomers opt to buy the solar panels, while the remaining clients sign up witha leasing company that pays for the cost of installation
and then charges a set pricefor lease payments.
“Ideally, monthly electricbill saving will be greater than the lease payments, making for a cash-positivetransaction,”
according to theMassachusetts homeowner’s guide to solar programs.
The lease deal is working sofar for Ken and Donna Sances, who hired Amergy last winter to install solarpanels on their house in South Weymouth.
Ken Sances, whosefive-bedroom house has central air conditioning, estimates that he is savingabout $200 a month on electricity costs.
“You’d have to be ignorantnot to care about the environment,” said Sances, who works as a car mechanic.“And the financial thing is huge.”
Interesting article…I wonder if there are any electrical implications in the event of a fire? I remember some municipality fire dept’s would just let a house burn down if it had solar panels …don’t know if that is still applicable.
This is the case in most new construction too. The materials are so flammable (engineered trusses, engineered i-beams, OSB sheathing) that unless someone is in the home, the fire department won’t risk their own lives to save a burning property. If the fire gets even slightly out of control, then the house is, as far as the fire department is concerned, toast. Literally!
Great to live in a small town .
I just talked to the fire chief about house on fire with solar pannels .
He said all new homes are a concern now with modern furniture and modern wood they burn fast. .
House with fire in basement or first floor we are going in if possible to fight the fire .
Roof on fire with or with out solar panels we fight the fire from the out side if we know the house has been vacated .
Just took a class last weekend on the new CA Building codes that take effect Jan 1, 2017. In the codes there are now requirements for clear walking space around panels and ability for Fire Personnel to vent the roof during a fire. There was no determination on how this would impact the Tesla System. Additionally, there are requirement for killing the panels generation ability from the ground. That one is interesting in non-micro panels. Anyway lots of unknowns in Tesla design. On a bright note test I saw in adds show them stronger than conventional tiles.