Random Thoughts of Chris Tilley

Want to go solar but don't like the look of panels or have a restrictive home owners association? These solar shingles blend in nicely. Here are some pictures.

The company that makes these is United Solar Ovonic. This is the kind of innovation that will save us money, Make the company money and reduce CO2 emissions.

When I first saw them they looked expensive for the power so I decided to crunch the numbers. I used the price on the above website and the rated peak watts. The shingles worked out to $9.70/watt, my randomly selected panel worked out to $8.22/watt. To me the aesthetics and that I wouldn't be buying regular shingle makes the price difference meaningless.

The other stat that I worked out was the watts per square foot. For the shingles it is 5 2/3 watts/sq foot and for the panel it was 12.28 watts/sq foot. I would expect this to improve as they develop the technology further.

Its going to be a number of years before I need a new roof but I will definitely be looking at these when the time comes.