Dow's POWERHOUSE solar shingles get along with non-solar siblings, your HOA

Oh sure, massive photovoltaic installations on rooftops are nothing terribly new, but by and large, the ones we've seen are stuck on massive warehouses or elaborate stadiums in foreign lands. Dow Chemical is doing its darnedest to change all that with the introduction of the POWERHOUSE line of solar shingles. As you'd expect, these solar shingles are aimed at roofers looking to tip their hats to Ma Earth while providing shelter for well-endowed homeowners, and unlike most of the futuristic alternatives, these actually look somewhat similar to traditional shingles. Dow claims that "affordability" will be a feature when they become widely available in 2011, but we're understandably skeptical of such a claim given just how pricey solar roofs currently are (and you know, considering the company's for-profit standing).

[Via Jetson Green]

[Bamboo Posted Oct 8th 2009 3:33PM]

I was really interested in going solar or putting up a wind turbine because I live right on the coast and we have tons of wind and sun. I was going to go with a grid tied system till I found out you can only sell the power back in certain states. I live in North Carolina, and went to a talk about how to get solar on your home, and left very disappointed. Turns out, since legislators here in NC have the N.C. Utilities Commission sticking "gifts" in their back pockets, we have a stupid program that makes no sense, called NC GreenPower.

If you get a system installed, and you don't put in a battery bank, your system doesn't even get hooked up to your house. It bypasses you and the power you generate goes directly into the grid. The money you can get for your power comes out of a special nonprofit fund that gets it's money from everyone that pays their powerbill and checkmarks a little box on the bill that lets them donate $4 to the fund. You still have to pay your normal power bill, then send in a copy of the receipt to the fund managers and wait for reimbursement.

At the end of the talk I attended, we were able to ask questions, so I asked "What if tons of people start going solar, and the fund runs out of money. Since the system is not connected to the house, does that mean we just spent $20k+ to put power in the grid but we get none of the power directly and no money for what we put in?"

The speaker was kind of quiet for a sec, and then actually said "You kind of got me there." and suddenly the whole crowd started mumbling and there were a lot of unhappy people. I have a feeling I ruined his sales pitch.

I hate to say it but the vast majority of the population of NC is very close minded and ignorant and is not going to be donating money to any fund to help with green power. If more people do start going with green power, that fund isn't going to last long.

I still can't believe NC lawmakers would put this system in place. And the head of Duke Power loves to get on news channels like CNBC and talk about how green his company is getting. Duke power is one of if not THE biggest power provider in NC.

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 9th 2009 8:25AM]

Bamboo,

I am the marketing and communications manager for NC GreenPower, an independent nonprofit organization supporting Renewable Energy and Carbon Offsets for North Carolina. I would like to respond to your comments and explain more about our program. Founded by a varied group of stakeholders, we are celebrating our 6th anniversary, and we are very proud to say that our program has continually experienced steady growth each year of our existence.

I would first be interested in knowing where you were and what speaker you were listening to, so I might know if they were a member of our Speakers Bureau and address the comments properly.

Thanks and I look forward to your reply soon.

Sincerely,
Katie Shepherd

[jonyah Posted Oct 8th 2009 5:14PM]

get the price to around $1000-$2000 per kilowatt and i'll be all over these.

[jamesFF Posted Oct 8th 2009 7:52PM]

So when will we find these at Home Depot.

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 8th 2009 10:56PM]

Well, the real problem is that unless you have a South facing roof in Southern California, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, or Texas (for the US), any photovoltaic array will consume more energy to manufacture, install, and maintain than it will ever produce.
The commenter from Germany is delusional if he thinks PV arrays in Northern Europe are "green".

This is why only heavily subsidized PV power from home systems make any economic sense.
They make no environmental sense.

The most efficient sunlight to energy systems are thermal, and they also must be placed in Southwestern deserts to become significant net energy producers. Another advantage to large solar thermal systems is that they can both store the heat for short periods, and use natural gas to produce energy at night and during cloudy days. This eliminates the inherent problem with PV systems which require 100% alternative standby power to overcome the dark.

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 9th 2009 5:25PM]

www.solarcentury.com have been making solar roof tiles and slates for years in the uk. Super easy to install and much higher efficiency than these. Also fewer connections and quicker to install. I really don't get what all the fuss is about. These look average...