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Solar Shingles heading to market? ABOUT TIME!
http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/07/dow-unveils-solar-shingles/?em
Too bad it's Dow. But regardless of the manufacturer, this is one of those "duh" answers that has been waiting for the fossil-fools to leave the White House before it could be released.
During W's tenure, it was literally impossible compete with the coal-fired industry's billion dollar state-by-state lobby. Alternatives were marginalized and defunded, while that old oxymoron "clean coal" was promoted with a lot more fossil-fuel industry money than EVER went towards developing those alternatives. All those billions spent protecting pollution-generating generators should have been spent getting products like these solar shingles to the market sooner.
Too bad it's Dow. But regardless of the manufacturer, this is one of those "duh" answers that has been waiting for the fossil-fools to leave the White House before it could be released.
During W's tenure, it was literally impossible compete with the coal-fired industry's billion dollar state-by-state lobby. Alternatives were marginalized and defunded, while that old oxymoron "clean coal" was promoted with a lot more fossil-fuel industry money than EVER went towards developing those alternatives. All those billions spent protecting pollution-generating generators should have been spent getting products like these solar shingles to the market sooner.
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they claim a 10 to 15% reduction in cost from standard arrays, and that their potential market is 90% of American homes. sounds pretty neat.
October 10, 2009 1:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
Eventually they will get the efficiency up too.
C
October 10, 2009 6:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
But I guess the next question to consider is when will they be zoned into requirement?
California will be first, I would guess. If every new home, and every new roof-job was subsidized by tax money to cover the cost over and above conventional shingles, it might just make the change happen much quicker.
I started a very small home insulation business back in 1978, installing cellulose in attics and sidewalls and fiberglass in new construction.
And like so many other small businesses, flourished for a few short years because the feds offered a big rebate (not a deduction, but a REBATE) for homeowners to insulate and weatherize their homes.
Of course under Reagan and Bush 1, that program was eventually eliminated, ostensibly to give the BIG guys (Johns Manville, Owens Corning, et al) back their monopoly.
A few dozen small businesses disappeared from the home shows and county fairs across the state when that rebate was rescinded.
That roller-coaster of federal legislation that giveth and taketh away with the ebb and flow of progress should not be so easy to turn into a roller-coaster.
Especially for the benefit of big business over small business. Whether in farming or home insulation or media publications, the battle between big corporations and small businesses is one of the most under-recognized issues we should learn to pay more attention to.
If they decide to give rebates for solar shingles, that law should be protected throughout our administration teeters and totters.
October 11, 2009 12:12 AM | Reply | Permalink