Solar Tiles

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I know that for many of you the only thing that comes to mind right now when I say ’solar; is that it rhymes with ‘polar’. While some climates can enjoy the benefits of solar power year round many of us in the north have to work around the snow factor. However, new technologies are being developed constantly.

The familiar conventional solar panel that springs to mind when someone mentions solar power could be replaced by the new trend of integrating solar technology into buildings. The increasing popularity for building integrated photovoltaics is aided by the advances in microgeneration technology including solar roof tiles, shingles and even special sheeting that can be incorporated into other building materials which is coated in layers of atomized photovoltaic material.

Photovoltaics have been developed and improved over many years and are available for many uses including power supplies to charge leisure batteries for caravans, boats and motorhomes as well as for conventional use on domestic and industrial roofs. As the search for more sustainable sources of energy generation are sought to help ease the problems of peak oil and decreasing sources of energy generation such as fossil fuels, microgeneration from renewable energy sources such as wind power, geothermal energy and solar energy could be a crucial step to prevent blackouts and energy shortages for future generations.

Solar panels have been criticized in the past for not being the most attractive addition to domestic roofs, and this is where the popularity of products such as solar tiles and other technology that can be integrated into a building stands out. Solar tiles take up less space than the normal solar panels used to harvest the sun’s energy and are built into the main roof in place of conventional roofing materials. The other bonus with the new technology is that solar tiles are available in a wide range of colors which enables easier building-integration into an existing roof or color matching to a new-build.