Poof! Well There Goes One Dream...Solar Roof

[MEXICOWANDERER]

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2018-11-20/inside-elon-musk-s-forgotten-gigafactory-2-in-buf...

An entire RV roof, nearly every square inch...I would loved to see it become a reality

[RGar974417]

Musk is good at sucking money out of people. My son was a salesman for Solar City and told me about the many problems they had. I have read about these solar shingles before. I wonder how good they are at keeping your roof from leaking.

[ktmrfs]

pnichols wrote:

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2018-11-20/inside-elon-musk-s-forgotten-gigafactory-2-in-buf...

An entire RV roof, nearly every square inch...I would loved to see it become a reality

Hmmmm .... over the past 40 years .... myself, my wife, and various maintenance workers have walked on our stick house roof "doing things", "modifying things", and "fixing things" - most of this not at all related to the roof material itself. I've done the same on our RV roof. I wonder how a complete solar roof would handle this kind of real life high pounds per square inch wear and tear?

It seems like the first and most important solar power priority for nearly every solar power installation going forward should be to get the efficiency of solar panels way, way above their current 18-22% conversion range. I hope this is a no-brainer regarding where solar power research dollars are being concentrated.

as far as efficiency, getting much above the current % for silcon based cells is going to be hard, the theoretical limit is around 33% for a single junction p-n cell. Multijunction silcon can get in the 40% range, but that uses different processing than the well known single pn junction process..

Using other 3-5 materials higher efficiencies are possible but (1) silicon process is well understood and that's where the majority of research is going. (2) silicon is very abundant and cheap. Some other materials are much more expensive or much more rare.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

I'm like a beggar smearing his lips on a window looking into a Prime Rib Palace.

[azrving]

Only $100,000? I may as well do the garage too so they match.

[free_radical]

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2018-11-20/inside-elon-musk-s-forgotten-gigafactory-2-in-buf...

An entire RV roof, nearly every square inch...I would loved to see it become a reality

It is a reality,
but like they say in Alaska,Nome wasnt built in a day! :B

https://www.inverse.com/article/51120-tesla-solar-roof-facility-now-has-shifts-24-7-to-meet-staggeri...

Btw I think one could get regular panels way cheaper

[2edgesword]

pnichols wrote:

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2018-11-20/inside-elon-musk-s-forgotten-gigafactory-2-in-buf...

An entire RV roof, nearly every square inch...I would loved to see it become a reality

Hmmmm .... over the past 40 years .... myself, my wife, and various maintenance workers have walked on our stick house roof "doing things", "modifying things", and "fixing things" - most of this not at all related to the roof material itself. I've done the same on our RV roof. I wonder how a complete solar roof would handle this kind of real life high pounds per square inch wear and tear?

It seems like the first and most important solar power priority for nearly every solar power installation going forward should be to get the efficiency of solar panels way, way above their current 18-22% conversion range. I hope this is a no-brainer regarding where solar power research dollars are being concentrated.

In addition to the efficiency and durability of the panels themselves is the life expectancy of other components required. One of the targets that gets repeated to me is a 20 year life expectancy which is still a challenge for some of the components (especially high C/V liquid and hybrid electrolyte capacitors) when being exposed to relatively high temperatures.

[azrving]

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
I was using Tesla as a bridge an entry into the genre.

I am still facing 12"/month topical savannah growth as a competitor to open space sunlight penetration.

Float a cell-laminated helium dirigible?

Helper

[azrving]

.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

I was using Tesla as a bridge an entry into the genre.

I am still facing 12"/month topical savannah growth as a competitor to open space sunlight penetration.

Float a cell-laminated helium dirigible?

[time2roll]

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2018-11-20/inside-elon-musk-s-forgotten-gigafactory-2-in-buf...

An entire RV roof, nearly every square inch...I would loved to see it become a reality

Tesla solar is designed to replace the shingles or tiles on your sloped roof on your fixed residence... not for your RV.

BTW give it 18 months... solar roof is coming.

[Ski_Pro_3]

Solar won't improve much because of the mark up. I'm sure they could build cheap and very efficient panels, just look to the space industry. But this is a capitalistic market and it's just not as profitable to do things that way.
I've read about solar technology where the road surface is a million little diamond shaped solar cells to allow for traction. A car is outfitted much like the old slot cars with a couple conducing straps. The straps touch in two different locations on the road surface and charges the car's batteries as it drives down the road.

[wa8yxm]

To answer your question Pnic there are a few different types of solar roofs and construction.

one construction method you have "Foot holds" so you can walk on the roof without walking on the solar cells

Other solar cells are more or less flexible so you can walk on 'em no damge.

[pnichols]

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2018-11-20/inside-elon-musk-s-forgotten-gigafactory-2-in-buf...

An entire RV roof, nearly every square inch...I would loved to see it become a reality

Hmmmm .... over the past 40 years .... myself, my wife, and various maintenance workers have walked on our stick house roof "doing things", "modifying things", and "fixing things" - most of this not at all related to the roof material itself. I've done the same on our RV roof. I wonder how a complete solar roof would handle this kind of real life high pounds per square inch wear and tear?

It seems like the first and most important solar power priority for nearly every solar power installation going forward should be to get the efficiency of solar panels way, way above their current 18-22% conversion range. I hope this is a no-brainer regarding where solar power research dollars are being concentrated.