The race to develop solar energy systems that can be easily installed and used continues. The latest entry in this race is the Dow solar shingles unveiled today. I once lived totally off the grid using solar energy from a panel system and I built my house so that the angle of the roof is the best angle for solar cells and it faces south, too. It is a prime candidate for solar shingles. All houses should be built with south-facing roofs, of course.
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Dow Unveils Solar Shingles – Green Inc. Blog – NYTimes.com
Jane Palmieri, managing director of Dow’s Solar Solutions unit, said the Powerhouse thin-film shingle slashes installation costs because it can be installed by a roofer who is already building or retrofitting a roof. .
“As a roofer is nailing asphalt shingle on roof, wherever the array needs to be installed he just switches to solar shingle,” said Ms. Palmieri, who said the solar singles are similarly attached to the roof with nails.
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Ease of installation is a great thing! It is #1 when it comes to any future solar system. This looks absolutely fascinating to me. Homeowners who are handy could install their own panels and then have an electrician hook it all into the main system of the house. My house already has the electrical terminus set up for such a system but I don’t have the money to install panels. I also am waiting for technological changes in the development of shingles and here it is!
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Until now, solar energy’s two challenges have been cost and acceptance. Dow is working to change all that. Dow has been developing Building Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV) building materials that enable solar energy cells to be incorporated directly into the design of commercial and residential building materials such as roofing systems, exterior sidings, fascias and more. Our BIPVs make solar power accessible and affordable for homeowners.
. From our solar product to our experienced solar support team, Dow offers an integrated, seamless solar solution that’s intuitive to set up, install, use and maintain. Most importantly, it’s backed by decades of innovation and on-the-ground R&D knowledge in creating building science solutions to meet human needs .
The Dow POWERHOUSE™ Solar Shingle delivers true building-integrated aesthetics by integrating PV functionality into an asphalt roof-shingle form factor. It utilizes high-efficiency, CIGS-based, PV cells manufactured on a flexible substrate. These cells are laminated and subsequently over-molded into the final shingle design using conventional materials and polymer processing methods. Dow’s groundbreaking technology integrates low-cost thin-film photovoltaic cells into a roofing shingle design, which represents a multi-functional solar module. The innovative product design reduces installation costs because the conventional roofing shingles and solar generating shingles are installed simultaneously.
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The wonderful thing about these shingles is, one can install them a group at a time. That is, if you can afford only a few ‘squares’ which is 100 sq ft, over time one can slowly cover an entire roof with these shingles. This makes the entire thing much more affordable! Indeed, all a community has to do is write up housing code regulations requires a certain amount of solar energy systems and voila: solar friendly houses will be designed and built!
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Smart Grid: Poll Shows Most Americans Want Solar Energy
A national survey found that 92% of Americans believe it is important for the country to develop and incorporate solar energy into the nation’s electricity supply. The survey, the 2009 Schott Solar BarometerTM, also showed that 77% of Americans surveyed want the federal government to make solar energy a national priority and to provide financial support to make it happen.
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Hooray for this poll! Schott happens to be a German corporation. I once knew Herr Dr. Schott in Germany via my dad who knew the Schotts since WWII. Like the Chinese, the Germans are interested in solar power because they see this as a neat way to electrify distant communities that are not near any power lines.
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The US has been fully wired together starting with the building of the Hoover Dam and FDR’s rural electrification agenda. In the US, the problem is we use a lot of coal to produce energy. Especially in the South where there should be a much lower electrical production if only housing was forced to have solar installations on every roof.
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Solar Decathlon starts on National Mall – Washington Business Journal:
The U.S. Department of Energy’s biennial competition for solar creativity descends on the National Mall this week, and will be measured for the first time by smart meters. .
Twenty university teams compete in the event, called Solar Decathlon, to design, construct and operate the most energy-efficient houses powered entirely by solar energy. No local teams are participating, but the entries hail from entities ranging from Cornell, Virginia Tech and Iowa State universities and from countries as far as Germany and Spain. .
The teams compete through Oct. 16, and the houses will be open to the public through Oct. 18, before the teams dissemble them and return to their home bases.
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Both Germany and Spain are really big in solar energy production. Years and years and years ago, I advocated laws forcing home builders and designers to build all houses in the northern regions with the main orientation being to the south to take advantage of solar energy in winter. In the West and South, this should be done in order to avoid the western sun in the afternoon.
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My parents bought a ranch in Arizona that was built facing the west for visual reasons but this was a total disaster in summer because it overheated the house immensely. My father solved this by building a veranda with shade on the west side. But it was still very bad. Ever since the invention of climate control in houses, the builders totally ignore outside nature when designing houses.
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This has to stop! People who consume vast amounts of energy just because they can are not doing the rest of society any favors. This emphatically includes rich people. The Bilderberg group decided, secretly, to hammer us on global warming this summer. Which happened to be one of the coldest summers in the Northeast US in 100 years. Despite screaming about us using energy, the Bilderberg people use tons of energy for themselves with total impunity.
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Which is why they are not getting their message across. It is like a very obese person telling someone who is slightly overweight that they are too fat. I actually had a 400 pound nurse tell me that when I was 30 lbs over my normal weight due to hormone shots I was given! Anyway, these energy fatsos are very happy about flying around the planet, wasting energy, telling us to stop consuming energy.
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Producing solar panels consumes energy and resources so we shouldn’t have them all over the place to make up for bad architecture! I am happy this competition is going on in DC and guess what? It isn’t in the news, I dug it up by searching really hard. This pisses me off.
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China to step up solar energy research, development _Sci&Tech–China Economic Net
The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) has launched an initiative to boost the development of solar energy technology, in a bid to turn it into a major energy source in China by 2050. A CAS official said that the academy had organized academicians and experts to make an action plan and will set up a platform to support scientific innovations involving solar energy. .
The plan will be carried out in three phases, including “distributed utilization” by 2015, “alternative utilization” by 2025 and “large-scale utilization” by 2035, respectively.
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And since day one, way back when Mao finally died and Madame was arrested and the Gang of Four thrown in jail, the Chinese wanted solar power. This is why Jimmy Carter sent my dad to Beijing back then. And now they are moving very rapidly to dominating this field. They work with the Germans on this and the fast train system which I wish we had here in the US! The trains here are ancient. Unreliable. Slow as turtles sunning on rocks. Often, don’t even move at all for long periods.
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And we desperately need a Chinese-style system, that is, we are a century behind Europe and Japan when it comes to trains and now are nearly a century behind China! We have to catch up! This is no joke. The future is not all about individual cars zooming about the landscape. Even if we have solar powered cars, the expenses of these things will be fairly high. For long distance travel, going by train will be the sensible future.
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Since China is buying up Indium around the world, an alternative form of solar panel cell using graphite / graphene is now being unveiled in the U.S.
http://www.azocleantech.com/details.asp?newsID=3460
http://solarcellsinfo.com/blog/archives/category/uncategorized
http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2008/06/graphitegraphene-solar-cell-developed-52653
More here: http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4GGLL_enUS323US332&q=graphene+solar+power+germany
Since it’s not news according to our lamestream media, there was nary a mention of it by Those Who Must Not Be Named (Association of Presstitutes or AP for short).
What is the efficiency decline/ year? Are they 20, 30, or 40 year shingles. What is the added annual maintainence cost. How much does the energy output decrease annually? Is it a straigh line decrease or does the decline follow a logistic model?
Yup wonderful stuff, it is good to know that technology will add some profit to Dow’s bottom line.
Elaine, thank you for the superb information on solar panels. I had not heard that as well. I am working on a project that looks like this would be a perfect fit. If the project moves forward and we are successful, I will make a point to get you a system installed at your home as we need trial installations and you are obviously an informed consumer. Please keep posting any news like this you come across.
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ELAINE: We shall see later, that is a very nice thing to say to me after we argue about other stuff. 🙂
I believe these panels could have been made a long, long time ago. I wanted to have them on my roof last summer, but they were not available and the solar panels cost more than my house. Unfortunately, we are a militant capitalist state, so there was no profit in it for the very rich.
Capitalism: a military social system that amasses all wealth in the hands of a few by exploiting the labor and savings of the many. It relies on force of arms to achieve this and, in some cases, propaganda.
Dow received 20 million dollars from the US Dept. of Energy to do their research, so the results actually belong to the general public who paid for it, but only the CEO’s of Dow, Inc. will reap the profits from our labor and investment.
This is how capitalism always works. Ask Donald Trump. He never uses his own money. He uses other people’s money.
DeVaul, I worked for the Department of Energy’s Clean Coal Technology Program for several years. That program gave millions of taxpayer dollars to corporations for cost-shared research projects involving coal-fired power plant technology.
I am certainly not opposed to the gov’t funding research, even at corporations, and there have been many good benefits that arose from such research, BUT–
As you suggest, there’s little financial return on investment to the public. We may benefit from the research, but the profits go to corporations. The gov’t often participates in the risk but not the reward. At the very least, Dow should return the DOE money from its profits on the shingles.
In addition, there are several laboratories, including some top-notch National Laboratories, that could have performed the same research as cheaply as Dow did and then placed the results in the public domain for everyone to benefit from.
I once tried to explain to a DOE employee the difference between spending money and investing money; and I suggested some changes in the agreements with coal plants that would have changed the process from giving money away to investing money in a promising technology. He looked at me like I was from Mars.
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ELAINE: The way to get the money back is via taxes. But corporate taxes get cut over and over again with the claim, this lets them compete with the Chinese and Japanese better.
China has a centralized research policy that shames the US model. The tiny amount given out in grants to businesses is usually matched by the company on a 50-50 basis.
The US should be investing more in research and development. Most companies can’t afford to at this point but most other first world nations are.
Since it is an ongoing topic, here is the flu vaccine ingredient list from Novartis,
Click to access UCM182242.pdf
Sanofi Pasteur,
Click to access UCM182404.pdf
MedImmune,
Click to access UCM182406.pdf
Mediummune nasal uses about three times more thimerosal than the others, in case that is a fear for some people.
Helping three blind Dear Authors the best I can. We have to be very careful about using mainstream scientific research, in a very elite way, of course. Cheers.
his is no joke. The future is not all about individual cars zooming about the landscape.
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i think the future is about cars zooming about the landscape… not necessarily 1 ton trucks but personal transportation is vastly more efficient than mass transport for business…
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not that mass transport is not the most efficient mode overall, but given time i would expect that individual transportation consumes the majority of mankinds time as it always has
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imna get me some solar panels before to long just to understand how equitable they really are… theres a overall job to accomplish based in watts AH and such… but with lead acid batteries and charging solutions how does it all ‘pan out’ is what i want to see
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the universe is filled with 2 things, butloads of energy with alot of space inbetween
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my bet is on a butload of energy
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how does one make iced tea
Senator: Obama should get Pentagon support on gays
http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSN117302920091011
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Critics charge that having gays openly serve in the military would undermine morale and discipline. But others reject such complaints and call the current policy unfair and unwise.
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if nato wins afghanistan im all ears… until then we should pretend we are figting a war full of people who dont care about men, women or gays
ELAINE: We shall see later, that is a very nice thing to say to me after we argue about other stuff.
You misunderstand. I NEVER argue with those I have no respect for. I think your knowledge of China and Economic issues is top tier…excellent! You are off on the issue of vaccine and some health related items, imho, and I hope that you see the light at some point for the sake of you and those you love. If not, then we agree to disagree.
Much respect to you, Elaine
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ELAINE: Thanks! I believe in strong debates. The anti-vaccination debate is important because I hope we all learn something. Especially how our brains work. Remember: ideological systems are also traps. Just like people hate me when I don’t believe a particular 9/11 story (what I know about that event is tremendously deep, but of course, no one wants to believe a word I say).
Beliefs are the bedrock of our thinking systems we use when we use the forebrain. But the belief systems are all captive to the innermost part of the human brain: the elder parts, the parts that evolve long, long ago when we were more reptilian.
What I am trying to do is show this connection. Which is why I periodically remind people who hate vaccinations that a billion humans owe their existence to vaccinations. And when unvaccinated people especially children, die, this is a tragedy. Simply dying of disease is a tragedy and I don’t detect an EMOTIONAL response to this. Only hypothetical deaths seem to get anti vaccination believers riled up. Not the real thing in the real world.
See? I know this is a difficult lesson to learn but if one drops all emotions attached to beliefs and looks at them coldly, one suddenly sees where the problems lie.
to be honest just brownsing the webernet there are inumerable oportunitys to question modern banking abilitys to regulate money supply in some sort of concert with its ability to accumulate sound capitol…. in other words it ability to not destroy the dollar…. and as far as i can tell no-one has any expectation that banking will change, not even the the most invested or educated… everyone is proposing a future where banks are crooks with taxpayers as ‘captured’ liability
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ELAINE: Correct.
http://www.reuters.com/article/GlobalWealthManagement09/idUSTRE5966A220091008
Most of the ultra-wealthy — normally defined as people who have at least $30 million in investable assets — do not really need to change their lifestyles. But even they feel pressure from dwindling investment portfolios as well as a society that looks less kindly on conspicuous consumption.
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trickle down economics is such a joke… what was the upside less income disparity or patriotism
Elaine, China has been ramping up the use of solar power for their city street lighting. Combined with LED bulbs this is extremely efficient and has a high life cycle. I have a group that is proposing this for cities and municipalities on my side of the pond. No money out, they collect payment from the regular energy bill payments for a few years after which they turn over the whole system to the local government.
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@CK: the points you brought up are where we are focused doing our homework. The LED’s are the trick, low consumption, high life cycle and low maintenance, not to mention cheap replacement.
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@blues: Great info! Boron fusion as you presented it looks promising, would appreciate your keeping us informed, I am always on the look out for clean renewable energy tech.
Great article.
Our railroads not good.
CIGS :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copper_indium_gallium_selenide
Argentex in Argentina has
a lot of Indium and it’s not
owned by China.
Hi Elaine.
I have been researching ecohouses and wondered if you constructed your place using the Segal method?
Well spotted on the roof tiles…there are a few companies doing this. Also check out Morgan Solar, they have recently been invested in by Iberdrola, the Spanish behemoth.
Richard
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ELAINE: Richard, I came up with my own house my own way. That is, after spending 10 years in a tent, I was very attuned to natural forces. The wind, rain, snow, etc are very close to one’s life when living in a tent. I then built the house based on how these elements play in nature. I had no building plans, no blueprints at all. I just built and built as it seemed right.
“Dow Unveils Solar Shingles”
Damn… I was certain our New World Order Conspiracy Theorists would be all over this.
Doesn’t anything made by Dow have to be a tool of the military-industrial complex? Don’t you think these “shingles” probably produce mind-controlling, de-populating radiation along with the electricity?
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ELAINE: Maybe if they had solar vaccinations with this. 🙂
@ JSmith – The whole freakin green industry is the latest NWO con job. A way to make the useless eaters feel guilty about not wanting to freeze to death in the winter or roast in the summer.
Why play around with solar panels when the technology to REALLY save on home energy has long been available? They’re called earthhomes. You build DOWN, where the temperature is a constant 50 degrees , not UP !
http://www.homesandcottages.com/ExtremeHomes/tabid/138/Default.aspx?ArticleId=168
Now, ask yourself…..why are building permits for these types of homes almost impossible to get ? Hmmmm ?
Sky, my ideal home is the Hobbit Home concept. 🙂
Periodically, I think of building a Hobbit House myself. If I had some money, this is what I would do.
It should be required in Tornado Alley but is impossible or dangerous in earthquake zones or hurricane zones.
Elaine already knows this…
Q.What do you call a basement in California?
A. An underground swimming pool. (We get all of our rain in the winter, hence the mudslides.) A wood/metal-framed house is considered the safest in an earthquake, as it gives. Just make sure it is bolted to the foundation.
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ELAINE: Basements are good and indeed, life and death in tornado alley which is the entire midwest, the deep south and even here in NY where we have mountains, we have tornadoes.
California has fires and earthquakes as well as mudslides. So it needs a totally different set of values. Making houses more fireproof is one thing that is very important and not nearly prepared for.
I hope it is as revolutionary as you think Elaine, but I doubt it. In their press release they never mention efficiency, as one poster noted, and, even more germane, also never mention how the shingles are connected to the grid. That constitutes most of installation costs (equipment, electricians etc), not physically locating the cells.
The green industry is more prone than most (though probably equally to the technology industry at large) to overstating their case.
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ELAINE: Connecting these shingles to the grid is very simple. You call in an electrician and he installs the box and wiring that does this. When I wired my own home, I put in this connector system in but ran out of money before I could install any solar panels.
@blues: thanks for all the links, will find time to read and absorb then get back to you. I like the no “weaponizable” by-products blues-imprimatur. 🙂
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Btw, about hobbit homes, why do that when you can do M2 panel construction, way cheaper, faster to build and great earthquake resistance. We have used these in the Philippines with very favorable results. Read about @ http://www.mdue.it/en/1/home.html
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Another very good American product which I personally have experience with is Thermoshield, a super product that uses NASA technology. Amazing stuff. A bit pricey but its attributes are many, and when you factor in the savings it comes out cheap. Read about @ http://www.thermoshield.com/index.htm
I done banned myself for over month, but I want to post here and say “CC” I hope everything is OK with you in the Philippines and blues, thanks for the links from me also. I checked them out.
Don’t worry Elaine – I won’t make a nuisance of myself.
Peace,
Ken
@CC:
http://www.thermoshield.com/opportunity_15.html
The company is for sale.
It’s OK, Ken.
Thermoshield: it is like many really nifty products for house building. That is, it goes down in flames when in a bad recession. This is because it costs more than the cheaper regular materials.
Time and again, I fall in love with some building material that is new and better than say, tar paper which is nasty and I hate tar paper.
And then the business goes belly up and I have to use crap like tar paper again. This happens with paints and with roofing materials, with plumbing stuff, you name it: cheap wins in recessions driving out the better stuff.
I hate recessions for many reasons and this is a top reason why it has lasting dire effects. Seems we can’t make much technological progress thanks to recessions.
@CK: it’s a great product, have used it and believe in it, thanks for bringing that to my attention, will see if I can package a deal for them. I know their Phil. distributor. Their marketing strategy was off, and most architects are not willing to pay for new tech, no one wants to be the guinea pig. When used it in tandem with the M2 panels the effect is amazing.
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@BK: hey, good to read you amigo! It’s been very busy, have been doing the rounds helping the distressed areas with relief goods. So far, 2,400 families in the South, we go North over the weekend, we are going to do another 3,000 families. Just today, we packed 1,200 boxes of clothes, water, blankets, mosquito nets, wind up LED flashlights, protein energy drinks, and slippers. It’s tiring but extremely pleasurable. Hope you are keeping well.
“Now, ask yourself…..why are building permits for these types of homes almost impossible to get ? Hmmmm ?”
People were playing around with that type of design in the 70s. But…
Ask yourself how practical that type of home is in an urban environment (where most people live, these days.)
The people in that article live on a 97-acre cattle farm just outside Bumfuck, Egypt. I bet that design works very well there.