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Date Joined: May 20, 2022 16:28:37 GMT -5
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Post by apple on Jan 26, 2023 14:18:00 GMT -5
These ‘Invisibile’ Solar Panels Appear Just Like Historic Italian Terracotta Roofs and Can Help Green Historic Buildings IN the historic Italian city of Vicenza, Veneto, a typically-Italian family business of artisans is handmaking not-so-typical solar panels. Designed to be indistinguishable by the naked eye from regular terracotta roof tiles,“Invisible Solar” tiles are made to improve the energy efficiency of heritage buildings without compromising their historic appearance. They make each tile out of a non-toxic and recyclable polymeric compound they themselves developed, and the tiles allow for sunlight to pass into a hidden bank of photovoltaic cells without the human eye being able to tell they are translusent.  link |
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Date Joined: May 20, 2022 16:28:37 GMT -5
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Post by apple on Jan 26, 2023 14:19:15 GMT -5
@naz, aren't these awesome?
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Date Joined: May 20, 2022 16:28:37 GMT -5
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Post by apple on Jan 26, 2023 20:06:34 GMT -5
I really believe all new builds should be at least passive solar.
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Date Joined: May 20, 2022 16:28:37 GMT -5
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Post by apple on Jan 26, 2023 20:25:24 GMT -5
I really believe all new builds should be at least passive solar. Absolutely. In rural areas it is a snap. But in suburban housing tracts it will require new layouts for subdivisions and lots. In the urban environment it can be tricky. True, I was thinking more of the burbs. |
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Date Joined: Mar 14, 2016 18:48:07 GMT -5
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Post by Springschick on Jan 26, 2023 20:35:39 GMT -5
We have a ton of new neighborhoods going in, and a large part of them are sporting many solar panels on nearly every roof.
We have six or eight panels, I believe. They dramatically reduce the electric bill, and in a house where there is almost always several people home using phones, tablets and TV's, that always helps.
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Date Joined: May 20, 2022 16:28:37 GMT -5
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Post by apple on Jan 26, 2023 20:37:58 GMT -5
We have a ton of new neighborhoods going in, and a large part of them are sporting many solar panels on nearly every roof. We have six or eight panels, I believe. They dramatically reduce the electric bill, and in a house where there is almost always several people home using phones, tablets and TV's, that always helps. They are coming down in price now. I have a portable one for camping, mostly for charging the phone and speaker. It works great. |
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Date Joined: Mar 14, 2016 18:48:07 GMT -5
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Post by Springschick on Jan 26, 2023 20:40:02 GMT -5
We have a ton of new neighborhoods going in, and a large part of them are sporting many solar panels on nearly every roof. We have six or eight panels, I believe. They dramatically reduce the electric bill, and in a house where there is almost always several people home using phones, tablets and TV's, that always helps. They are coming down in price now. I have a portable one for camping, mostly for charging the phone and speaker. It works great. Ours were here when we bought the house. We had to have the company who put them up, Tesla, come out and fix one of them, as squirrels had gotten into the safety meshing and chewed the wires. |
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Date Joined: May 20, 2022 16:28:37 GMT -5
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Post by apple on Jan 26, 2023 20:41:46 GMT -5
They are coming down in price now. I have a portable one for camping, mostly for charging the phone and speaker. It works great. Ours were here when we bought the house. We had to have the company who put them up, Tesla, come out and fix one of them, as squirrels had gotten into the safety meshing and chewed the wires. Can you sell power back to the grid? |
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Date Joined: Mar 14, 2016 18:48:07 GMT -5
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Post by Springschick on Jan 26, 2023 20:53:28 GMT -5
Ours were here when we bought the house. We had to have the company who put them up, Tesla, come out and fix one of them, as squirrels had gotten into the safety meshing and chewed the wires. Can you sell power back to the grid? Maybe if our panels produced more than we consume, but that hasn't happened, so I really don't know. |
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Date Joined: Dec 29, 2022 22:16:23 GMT -5
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Post by RichardInTN on Jan 26, 2023 23:36:35 GMT -5
I do agree that all new construction should be required to include solar energy collection in some manner. And I wouldn't limit that to just residential.
The roof has to be made of SOMETHING... why not some form of solar collector?
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Date Joined: Sept 16, 2012 13:59:47 GMT -5
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Post by sauerkraut on Jan 27, 2023 10:31:21 GMT -5
The problem is they don't last long and require toxic chemicals to make.
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Date Joined: Dec 29, 2022 22:16:23 GMT -5
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Post by RichardInTN on Jan 27, 2023 23:53:06 GMT -5
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Date Joined: Sept 16, 2012 13:59:47 GMT -5
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Post by sauerkraut on Jan 28, 2023 11:17:29 GMT -5
The problem is the solar panels (regular solar panels not the kind in the article) are very expensive to buy and install and you need a new roof before you install them otherwise when it's time to replace the roof you need to remove all the solar panels before you can tear off the old roof. The article above is about solar panels as tiles on the roof it sez nothing about how those thin solar panels stand up to hail storms and the like.
My neighbor next door has 10 solar panels on the roof and they were very expensive and they are not all cracked up to the big money saver that they were supposed to be. It takes along time to get the invest back form solar panels and when you do break even it's time to replace the solar panels. My guess is the solar panels in the article are even more costly than the regular panels. I'm not sold on them or wind power.
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Date Joined: Dec 29, 2022 22:16:23 GMT -5
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Post by RichardInTN on Jan 29, 2023 0:31:04 GMT -5
Old panels were expensive... and not as reliable as more modern ones... no argument.
And, as a "retro-fit" they can be problematic... I agree.
My biggest point is as we move forward, new construction and/or new replacements of roofs (after the old one has seen its time)... those are where solar should be a requirement because building it as part of the new roof construction, it can be a lot more integrated and a lot more cost effective (not to mention the newer materials are safer, more reliable, and more cost effective).
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Date Joined: Apr 5, 2018 3:27:17 GMT -5
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Post by sb on Jan 30, 2023 14:32:55 GMT -5
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Date Joined: Mar 14, 2016 18:48:07 GMT -5
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Post by Springschick on Jan 30, 2023 14:38:22 GMT -5
That's who provided our solar panels.
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Date Joined: Sept 16, 2012 13:59:47 GMT -5
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Post by sauerkraut on Feb 4, 2023 11:40:00 GMT -5
One thing about solar ~~or anything going green is that's it's not as efficient as fossil fuels and it's not cheap. Anything 'green' will cost ya a pretty penny one way or another.
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