United States.
The renowned entrepreneur Elon Musk, co-founder of Tesla, among other companies, has presented his latest product: it is a concept for a solar roof, as opposed to a roof with solar panels on top of it.
Instead of placing individual panels on a pre-installed conventional roof, customers will be able to choose from different types of solar shingles designed to look like conventional shingles. Customers can choose how much of their square space is available in PV shingles, and how much will be shingles only.
"The key is to make solar look good," Musk said during the product's introduction. "We want you to call your neighbors and say, 'Take a look at this sweet roof. "It certainly makes sense."
"We want it to look better, last longer, provide better insulation, and cost less" than a regular slate or tile roof with photovoltaic panels. In typically elegant but handy style, Elon Musk did not provide any information on longevity, R-value, wiring or cost.
The tiles also use a cosmetic "color blind," which is meant to help with the optical properties of shingles during their camouflage routine. As they filter out some incoming lights, Musk assured attendees that the tiles get enough to do their job.
That work would be helped by the Powerwall 2, which Musk also introduced. Here he gave some numbers. It's trading $5,500 for 14 kWh of storage, which (according to Tesla metrics) will power a four-bedroom home for an entire day. In theory, connected to a sunroof with enough square meters, it could power the house indefinitely.
Source: www.extremetech.com
