Build Your Own Solar Panel

One type of building-integrated photovoltaics, or BIPVs are commonly referred to as solar shingles. In some ways they make a lot of sense. Homeowners spend a lot of money on conventional roofing materials that are designed to last 25 years. Why not integrate solar power generation into the roof itself?

The disadvantages as I see them are as follows:

• This material is less efficient than other technologies, it limits the amount of energy that can be harvested from the entire area of your roof.
• You cannot install the material at an optimal angle.
• What do you do when your little power generator fails to keep the rain from leaking into your house?
• The same extreme weather that peals off regular roofing could carry away your investment in solar.

Here are the advantages:

• These BIPVs replace building materials, thereby offsetting the cost when they are used in new construction.
• They do not affect the appearance of the house as much as typical solar panels.
• In the future, they could prove to be more economical.

Should these solar shingles every become widely available and cheap, they might be a great option for the DIY crowd.  Doing you own roofing and helping friends and family with their roofs is a rural tradition.

If I were constructing a new house, I would want to orient the roof to get optimal sun exposure.  Who know when, if ever, these solar shingles might become the best solution for residential power.

Photo:westbywest

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