Solar Shingles Customers that own Phonosolar 300 watt panels are lucky to have another option in their solar electricity—solar shingles. This is an innovative technology that involves placing solar panels on your roof that look and act like regular asphalt shingles. If you’ve been looking at solar panels, you no doubt know about the money-saving aspect of the panels, but there’s more to it. Although the initial outlay might be a little higher than standard panels, solar shingles are like their larger cousins—they will pay themselves off over time. Most experts say that a roof should be replaced every 20-30 years, and solar shingles are no different. But why not have a roof that can all collect energy from the sun? Rather than one or more smaller panels on a roof to collect energy, you can collect a whole lot more and save a lot more money when you’re getting energy on a much larger surface area.
More than Savings But most people would stop at a simple money-saver. Solar shingles are a lot more than that. Each individual shingle is its own small solar panel, and acts to collect energy like a full-sized panel would. The only difference is that you can cover your entire roof with them so that you don’t have big, black squares sitting on top of your house. The coloring is very close to that of a standard asphalt shingle, so it looks like a standard roof. The technology employed in solar shingles is very unique. In contrast to standard panels, solar shingles are made in one of two ways: they’re either rigid or flexible. That’s one reason that standard panels are mounted the way they are: they can’t bend to fit the roof, so they have to mount to a flat surface that’s facing the sun. This can be difficult for some homeowners, due to the orientation of their home or the shape of their roof. But solar shingles are flexible, and can be stapled to the roof in the same way that any shingle can be. This is a dream come true for many people who have wanted to cut down on their reliance on the power grid, but haven’t been able to due to factors that they can’t change.
Two Options There are two main installation options available to users. The first is to use mostly standard asphalt shingles, but to intersperse a solar shingle among them at certain points. This provides a sort of disguise for the solar shingle. The second is to do as mentioned above, and cover the entire roof in special panels, which are designed to look and act like asphalt ones. Whichever you choose, the results will both look great, and help you cut down on your electricity bill. Solar shingles may not be for everyone, but users of Phonosolar 300 watt panels might consider it another viable option. But if you are tired of seeing the big, black panels on your roof, you might want to think about investing in solar shingles to make your roof look like all the rest again. Photo Credit: Tai Viinikka, Nic McPhee, Tai Viinikka,