On the Aesthetics of Solar Panels

One major impediment to more widespread popularity for solar home systems has been aesthetic value. Many homeowners and community organizations have frowned at the prospect of large, unsightly, glaring solar panels on their roofs or in their yards. In an age of regimented color schemes and tiny satellite dishes, the solar panel, despite its energy-saving benefits, has faced an uphill battle. But the industry has responded. There is now an industry-wide race to perfect an aesthetically pleasing and cost effective solar array.

Keeping aesthetics in mind, Sharp Solar, BP Solar, and other manufacturers design panels to appear like skylights. They achieve this by using finished sheet metal and trim strips which hide any hardware and give it the appearance of being part of the roof framing. This is effective, depending on how many solar panels you wish to utilize on your home. If aesthetics is vital to your decision making, will twenty skylights do the trick?

Indeed, new innovations are making a strong move toward replacing traditional PV panels in residential solar power. Solar shingles consist of a semiconductor layer of crystalline silicon adhered to shingle and the shingles then mount onto the existing roof. Solar shingles can be used with any common style of roof including asphalt and, while one shingle does not produce very much power, hundreds of square feet can be enough to power an entire home. The main producers of solar shingles are Uni-Solar and Sunslates. Uni-Solar’s shingles, just like standard asphalt shingles, are flexible, can be stapled right down to the roof, and may be intermixed with standard shingles. Sunslates, on the other hand, are fastened via anchor bolts attached to 2×2 sleepers. Most solar shingles are a dark, purplish-blue color and therefore blend well with other roofs and are not obviously solar energy collectors. SunPower corporation produces black shingles which blend well with tile and flat roofs.

Another very promising, and very new, innovation in residential solar technology is paint-on solar cells. Researchers at Swansea University have recently discovered a way to actually paint solar cells onto steel roofing panels. Thus, you could effectively have solar power painted directly onto your roof! This solar paint is also designed to pick up low-level radiation so it can be effective even in areas that do not receive much direct sunlight. This innovation, if successful in getting mass produced, could really change the face of roofing and residential renewable energy.

Products such as solar shingles and paint-on solar steel roofs certainly seem to be the wave of the future. They are much more aesthetically pleasing and easier to install than traditional solar panels. Their one drawback at this point is that only a few companies manufacture them and they are still more expensive than solar PV panels. For many homeowners this difference in price is negligible when set against the gains in aesthetic value. Furthermore, if solar paint-on technology takes off, that high price could drop considerably.