[mythtv-users] [Slightly OT] solar power for all our gadgets

[Jeff Walther]

>
> Date: Tue, 24 Mar 2009 23:16:22 -0400
> From: "Michael T. Dean" <mtdean at thirdcontact.com>

> On 03/24/2009 10:36 PM, Shawn Rutledge wrote:

>> It seems you can actually buy solar cells
>> that look like shingles now ("roof integrated", they call it), but
>> they still cost more.  I don't get it; this technology should be
>> cheaper than making the single-crystal cells.

The company making the shingles stopped making them.  I do not know why. 
When I wanted to put SPV panels on my roof that was the first thing I
looked for.   I also do not know if they will start making them again.  I
suspect that there were reliability issues which were eating up all their
profits.  I don't remember the exact evidence, but something about the
wording of the announcement of the stoppage gave me that impression.  At
least that's what my internal marketing-speak translator came up with.

> who have a plant
> that's manufacturing rolls of "goop" that's not a
> crystalline-silicon-based solar cell that designed to be the same size
> as a shingle, but is really just a thing file on top of a real tar
> shingle.

> manufacturing process is churning out 1-mile-long
> rolls of it).  They've sold something like the next 3 years of
> production, already.
>
> I think this may actually be the same thing you're talking about (it's a
> thin-film PV device using amorphous Si, rather than crystalline silicon,

It's a different technology from the original shingle idea, but may be the
second thing to which Shawn referred.

As I understand it, it's manufactured with something a lot like inkjet
technology.  They have a way of (almost) printing the cells and they are
flexible.

It is (so the article I read said) cheaper to manufacture than traditional
silicon based PV cells but also generates less electricity per
area*sunlight.

So, you can cover your roof for less, but you'll get less total energy out
of the deal.  Depending on the exact price point for a full installation,
it might expand the areas where it makes economic sense.   However, it
still won't generate all or even most of the electricity that a typical
household uses on the average.

Jeff Walther