Categories
- Consumer Roof Info
- Green Roofs
- Roofers on the Web
- Roofing Contractor Info
- Roofing Equipment
- Roofing Products
- Roofing Safety
- Solar Roofing
- Uncategorized
New Entries
- Florida Roofer Makes Olympic Diving Team
- Roof Express - Revolutionize the Way You Do Business
- Universal Studio Fire Caused by Roofer’s Blowtorch
- New Roofing Job Listings Added
- How to Find Tax Credits & Subsidies for Solar Roofing
- Roofers Coffee Shop Forum is Down
- HelioVolt Entering Into Solar Roofing Market
- Another Solar Shingle Partnership — Dow & Global Solar Energy
- Upcoming Roofing & Industry Related Conventions
- The roof repair guy
Archives
Admin
HelioVolt Entering Into Solar Roofing Market
May 8th, 2008 — Solar Roofing
HelioVolt is one of several new solar manufacturers using different materials to produce thin-film solar cells.
The company intends to make solar cells for rooftop panels and later get into building- integrated photovoltaics (BIPV), where cells are embedded into roof shingles, blinds, awnings, or other building components.
HelioVolt just announced this week that they are entering into a partnership with Architectural Glass & Aluminum to produce glass windows capable of generating electricity. However, BIPV has a number of technical challenges, making the days of power-generating windows a few years away.
One technical disadvantage of solar cells being utilized in BIPV is their shorter lifespan in comparison to other building materials, typically 20-25 years. Thin-film cells made from CIGS (copper indium gallium selenide), as HelioVolt is making, corrode more easily in water than traditional silicon cells.
Weather-sealing the CIGS cells will be a challenge, but they provide twice the efficiency of silicon. Also, silicon is being challenged by high demand and dwindling supplies making CIGS a more viable alternative.
“You have to come up with a compromise between power output and long lifetime, and do both with the cost that fits into the application,” says John Langdon, VP of Marketing at HelioVolt. “There are some tradeoffs.”
Related Posts
Comments
What We Read
- CalFinder’s Solar Blog - Keeps homeowners and industry experts in tune with the latest trends and topics related to residential solar power.
- Contractor Talk for Roofing Professionals - Quite popular sub-forum of ContractorTalk.com for trade talk amongst contract roofing professionals.
- DIY Roofing Forum - A DIY forum for roofing, gutters and waterproofing discussing installations, repairs and maintenance.
- Professional Roofing Magazine - An official publication for the NRCA
- RC Columns - The syndicated Columns feed from Roofing Contractor magazine.
- RC Features - The syndicated Feature Articles feed from Roofing Contractor magazine.
- Roofing at This Old House - Roofing discussion forum and advice from This Old House’s premier website.
- Roofing.com - A community of Roofers, Roofing contractors, and people seeking information about their roof.
- RSI Magazine - eNews for roofing, siding and insulation.
- The Construction Informer - This blog is a place for free-spirited discussions about building, with emphasis on green building technology.
- Todd Fratzel’s Home Advice - Home Improvement Advice for everyone from beginners to seasoned DIY’ers and professional contractors.
Other Sites
- Emergency Lighting - their industrial emergency light collection for steel indoor and special use is unmatched on the web in quality and value.