Solar Panel Roof Shingles

With home solar power systems becoming more popular every year, some builders are looking for creative ways to incorporate this amazing alternative energy solution into their homes. Even though modern solar panels have improved over the years to be much more productive and durable, they are still a very obvious addition to a home that impacts the aesthetics of the design. Because of this many builders and homeowners are looking for alternative ways to build a solar power system into their homes that is less noticeable. Solar panel roof shingles allow a homeowner to enjoy the free power that these home solar power systems provide without the need to mount a set of solar panels on the roof.

The bottom line is, visually appealing Roof Systems include visually appealing ridge shingles. If you are not concerned with the visual appeal of your Roof System, then save a buck and use a standard cut shingle for your ridge caps. If however you'd like your house to look more like your castle...use a definitive edge ridge shingle such as an IKO Ultra Hip or a GAF/Elk z-ridge.Red Label: Red label cedar is not as "perfect" as blue label, but they are still a very good shingle. About 66% of the shingle is heartwood. It has limited amounts of sapwood and flat grain. It also has a limited number of knots and defects above the clear portion of the shingle.Solar panel shingles have been in development for the past few years and there have been versions of them available commercially for some time. What set the recent wave of these solar power shingles apart from the earlier models are their durability and their mounting options. Older solar panel shingles were hard to add to a roof because of the way they mounted and connected to the homes electrical system. Most of these early models had to be mounted in large groups on the roof and because they were typically thicker than current models, they were about as obvious as a standard solar panel cosmetically. Modern versions of these solar panel roof shingles are thinner and can be mixed in with standard roof shingles to help them better blend into a roof's design. They are also available in a wider variety of colors to allow you to match them to the color of the other roof shingles.

While these solar panel shingles will not produce as much power as a typical solar panel of the same size, they are increasing their efficiency every year and are close enough today to make financial sense for many homes. When you consider the advantages they provide over conventional solar panels in durability and aesthetics, they are fast becoming the solution of choice for many homeowners.

Author: Christhoper Lollini