Solar Shingles
With green technology advancing every day, and the increased use of solar energy to power houses, it now seems logical in retrospect that solar shingles were developed to take advantage of both the unlimited solar energy provided by the sun as well as the surface of roofs, which normally serves no purpose other than decoration.
Depending on each person’s aesthetic tastes, solar shingles provide a different look to homes. While obviously lacking a classic like wood or tile shingles, solar singles still look good with the right wall colors and they don’t really look that different. In addition, they’re the best option for new and modern architecture styles. Moreover, some companies produce special brown colored solar shingles that are more classic looking than the regular blue ones. These are even allowed sometimes in areas where the government restricts the kind of shingles that a house can have, for example, in areas where houses are in a protection order list, or where a historical type of architecture has to be preserved.
Of course, solar shingles aren’t installed for their looks and aesthetic value, but mainly for taking advantage of solar energy. They are definitely a much better option than solar panels, as they practically occupy no space. Solar panels have to be installed somewhere, and even when installed on the roof, they are still cumbersome. Solar shingles don’t have this problem, since they use the space that are normally used by normal shingles, in addition, some shingles can be upgraded to solar shingles.
The main disadvantage of solar shingles is price. So far the technology is not advanced enough to make it cheaper than normal shingles. In addition, installation of solar shingles is more difficult than normal shingles, since it involves a lot of wiring. In addition, extra hardware is needed to channel electricity generated by these solar shingles into your house systems, such as batteries, inverter, etc. All of this can increase your expenses greatly. However, bear in mind that you’ll be saving in electricity over time, so it’s really an investment. In addition, you’ll have a back up battery for your whole house, which will give you several hours of energy in case of a general power failure in your neighborhood. Also, after the expense of the installation, there are no operation costs you need in order to get the extra energy.
Finally, solar shingles also have the advantage of that they contribute to reducing the pollution of the environment, since they reduce the consumption of electricity produced by carbon or gas burning and replace it with solar energy.
