I'd say great idea !!! And actually where I live (Reunion Island) there is a lot of hurricanes every year so the tiles on the roof are not used here. Instead there is a metal plates bolted on the roof. But, if the plates were like solar coated.... -:) That'll be nice.... Actually, the money you save to cover your roof with regular tiles you can invest into solar tiles (which are bit more expensive, but good for the environment)..

Vladan

Dirty secularist hippies? Whatever.

The important questions: cost, availability, lifespan, and efficiency.

Making sustainable choices camouflaged may appeal to the masses, but if the products are not effective or have shorter lifespans, they ultimately hurt the drive to implement change.

I am an architect, and in my dealings to get solar installed on houses within communities there have always been holdouts looking for products like these- the magic bullet to make the 'are we doing enough' question go away without changing our lifestyles. Products like these to date have been inferior and a distraction in the argument to make real change. What is with the North American love of asphalt shingles, anyway?

I love the concept, but yet another manufacturer who's website is severely lacking in information. There site has no info on pricing, availability, efficiency of the panels, colors, etc. Not even a list of "approved installers." Are these even available yet or is this vaporware?

=== authors' response follows ====
A business relationship was just announced with Certainteed, the French-owned distributor of construction materials. That could account for why so little information is provided for the time being.

Wow,
Nice idea. I wonder if the first photo is a Spanish style tile or if it's a flat tile that is flexible with that S-bend. I was thinking the Spanish style roof would give a little more surface area owing to the curves and place more surface area in direct sun for a given sun angle.

I wonder also if there will be different colors some time.

vsk

THIS is green innovation at its finest!

I agree with Scott...
And when it's available in the UK I'll be first in the queue (line!).

We keep telling people when they ask about solar tiles vs solar panels, that the panels are typically 12-14% efficient and the tiles are typically 8-10% efficient (based on solar ovonics flexible amorphous cells). You need more and they're more expensive.

=== author's response follows ===
yes. But the solar tiles do double duty as roofing material and as energy collection device. So, if a home needs a roof replacement anyway or is a new built home which will be roofed with the new solar tiles, then the added cost is the average difference between the cost of non-electrically active solar tiles over entire roof area to be covered by them and the cost of ordinary asphalt tiles over same area, on an estimated installed basis for both systems (includes underlayment and all labor, parts, etc).

There are other companies working on this kind of technology too!

Miasole (http://www.miasole.com/) is working on solar technology that is so easy to install, you can do it yourself. Their product will include mounted sensors and wireless communications capability which can be encapsulated into composition shingles.

They are even working with large-scale commercial and residential developers to offer this energy-producing roof bundled into the mortgage! According to the founder of Miasole, Dave Pearce, the combined mortgage and electricity bill will be less with the solar roof than without.

This is just one of the cool companies working to reinvent energy and fight global warming highlighted in the new book, Earth: The Sequel. Watch the trailer at http://earththesequel.edf.org!

Lauren Guite
Environmental Defense Fund

This is an interesting (but hardly unique) product, but before you ruch out and order some, find out a few things like lifespan and energy payback period. Some panels have surprisingly high embodied energy, and low-efficiency ones may have long payback periods. Considering roofs tend to have short lifespans, you might wind up saving very little CO2 for your investment.

In fact, building-integrated solar panels are very rarely a good investment, and wind up saving very little CO2 compared to other things. Not only do they produce only a small portion of the energy you'll consume, but their variable nature means that much of what you feed into the grid will be wasted. Unless you're off-grid, or until the grid gets smarter, then your money is MUCH better spent on efficiency measures. If you've got air conditioning, simply planting a shade tree outside your house will probably save more CO2 than solar tiles.

Here in the UK, there is a well established company called solarcentury (http://www.solarcentury.com/) which has been selling solar PV and solar thermal roof tiles in various form factors for a few years now. Their C21e roof tiles use cells with 20% efficiency.

These are not cheap products but look superbly designed and my guess is that they mostly sell to government-funded building projects (schools, universities, social housing) or to large commercial developments looking to convey green credentials.

Solar Century are always careful to point out that basic efficiency measures, such as home insulation etc, should be undertaken first before considering solar PV.

Looks cool, seems to do the job... BUT what about lifespand... Try recycling those "shingles"...

Think about it first.

Here's theres snow in the winter, ALOT!
What about bird crap, dust or other particuls from rain, pollution, etc? I couldn't see how you'd clean that off... Using water hose? Come on!!!

It's a good idea, but not to good to put on the market. (businesses tend to look at the profit and don't all care about old used product you want to return; unless they know how to deal with it.

Yea what about snow in the winter? thats a good question, since home in Colorado usually have a ton of snow on the roof. Also can these tiles be walked on? What if you need to work on your gutter and the tiles are in the way?

=== author's response follows ===
South face will melt first, enhanced by dark roof tiles. Tradeoff against using light roof tiles to reduce solar gain heat in summer.

In short, the customer needs to think this through with a seasonal energy balance, and consider the angle of the roof as well.

Why use Black tiles? Heat makes a Photocell less efficient. Isn't there any other color besides Black.