51–60 of 290 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Did you see the announcement video? They dropped a kettlebell on it and all it got was a small crack.
Now think about what will happen after water makes its way into that crack and goes through a few hundred freeze-thaw cycles.
I think it's interesting looking at it from the other end - as a homeowner, I can tell you that roofing is an expensive proposition. If this can be competitive with traditional roofing and have a longer life expectancy, I'd buy in a heartbeat. It has the potential to displace thousands of tons of asphalt shingles per year with the equivalent of recyclable glass, which is pretty fantastic. The embodied energy of produ…
I need to replace my roof and I've been quoted almost $20k. If these are within $5k of that price, then I will jump on it.
I think it's interesting looking at it from the other end - as a homeowner, I can tell you that roofing is an expensive proposition. If this can be competitive with traditional roofing and have a longer life expectancy, I'd buy in a heartbeat. It has the potential to displace thousands of tons of asphalt shingles per year with the equivalent of recyclable glass, which is pretty fantastic. The embodied energy of produ…
Don't forget that rooftop solar panels reduce HVAC cooling needs in summer, and I would bet they also slash blackbody radiation, reducing the greenhouse problem. Absorbing the light ought to be as good as reflecting it. a 93-square-metre (1,000 sq ft) white roof will offset 10 tons of carbon dioxide over its 20-year lifetime. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reflective_surfaces_(geoengine...
Hope it is insured against golf ball sized hail. If so people in Texas will buy this in droves just for the durability. In not it will never sell in Texas.
Isn't it more cost effective to put some sort of transparent shield on top, for those places with above-average risk of hail damage? or is it that such a cover gets dirty and not-so-transparent faster than the original top layer? I'm guessing this must be something already being considered, so what am I missing?
Asphalt roofs are inexpensive. Given that hail-damaged asphalt roofs keep getting replaced with asphalt roofs, I have to think it's some kind of market/regulation/short-term-profit thing.
Huh? Solar shingles have been around since 2005. Dow and CertainTeed Products are the big makers. Here's a nice example of a house with a solar shingle roof.[1] There's been an aesthetic problem with mixing solar and non-solar shingles, because the colors didn't quite match. But that was mostly because solar shingles were a retrofit, not original equipment, and not an entire roof replacement. [1] http://texastinyhome…
OT. But I find it amusing that a "tiny home" in Texas is the same size as a normal home in most other places.
I'm sure i'm not the only one who feels like this is possibly the iphone moment of Solarcity/Tesla: an old-ish idea, made sexy and tasty to consumers, together with technology reaching a tipping point(and also Musk again finding a way to maximally exploit government subsidies for clean tech.) The tesla car itself could count as well, but felt less "design driven" imo. If this fails, everyone will call it obviously du…
I'm curious if anyone has stats on what percentage of houses have an unobstructed southern roof (for those in the Northern hemisphere)? My house has seasonally adjusted nanotechnology self-replicating shade "panels" that block considerable sunlight in the spring and summer months (MTBF: 100+ years). The big downside is cleaning up the unused panels in the autumn.
https://www.google.com/get/sunroof#p=0
I like the concept, but it has that Beta(tm) feel to it...
I'm sure i'm not the only one who feels like this is possibly the iphone moment of Solarcity/Tesla: an old-ish idea, made sexy and tasty to consumers, together with technology reaching a tipping point(and also Musk again finding a way to maximally exploit government subsidies for clean tech.) The tesla car itself could count as well, but felt less "design driven" imo. If this fails, everyone will call it obviously du…
> I'm sure i'm not the only one who feels like this is possibly the iphone moment of Solarcity/Tesla: an old-ish idea, made sexy and tasty to consumers, together with technology reaching a tipping point Except one ingredient is missing: most people cannot afford one, even if they tried really hard.
I'm sure i'm not the only one who feels like this is possibly the iphone moment of Solarcity/Tesla: an old-ish idea, made sexy and tasty to consumers, together with technology reaching a tipping point(and also Musk again finding a way to maximally exploit government subsidies for clean tech.) The tesla car itself could count as well, but felt less "design driven" imo. If this fails, everyone will call it obviously du…
Another side note: it always annoys me when people insinuate that Musk using government funds is a bad thing. The government is literally just US....it's our money and a collection of individuals from among us who we've appointed to handle the general administration of us and the space we take up. Why should American entrepreneurs, particularly ones doing such an outstanding job of moving technology in a positive dir…
I had serious misgivings when Tesla/SolarCity announced a switch of focus to building-integrated PV. Historically, BIPV is where a PV technology goes to die after it's failed to compete against incumbent module designs. But these have far better aesthetics than previous BIPV efforts. They look better individually and they aren't clumped in one odd shiny patch on the roof like past BIPV. Search for images of solar shi…
>>SC will be able to have a monopoly on these modules and their installation for a long time to come Is that really Elon Musk wants, monopoly ?