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Six innovative rooftop solar technologies
By Cat DiStasio It's never been easier to give your house a solar roof. Falling manufacturing costs and increasing demand have led to a number of fascinating new solar products in recent years, including roof shingles with integrated solar cells, modular solar arrays and even efficient thermal tiles made from glass. As the technology improves and more people get turned on to the benefits of renewable energy, we expect to see even more innovative products hitting the market in the coming months and years, pushing forward the envelope for solar power production.
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]
