Solar roofing with composition shingle product
From the Santa Cruz Sentinel Oct 23, 2010
It’s not your typical roofing job.
First, it requires an electrician, and second, it could offset your entire annual electricity bill.
Jon and Jill Winston’s 4,000-square-foot Westside home will soon feature a unique 12-kilowatt system of roof-integrated solar shingles produced by LUMA Resources of Michigan. Each module produces 60 watts from 16 solar cells.
Installation involves removing the existing roof down to the plywood, then installing a plastic membrane upon which the shingles are placed, according to Kevin Joyce, a partner with Golden State Solar Electric, who is working with the building electrical contractor, Marc Suacci of Suacci Solar, on the Meder Street project. This produces a lower profile than typical rail-and-frame solar installations, which are bolted over the shingles, according to Joyce.
“It actually replaces the roof,” said Robert Allen, the product’s inventor, who is overseeing this first California installation. He is old friends with the Winstons.
LUMA resources launched in 2008 with a grant from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act as a spinoff from Allen’s family roofing business.
Allen said the product received Underwriter’s Laboratory certification as a roofing product first, before the solar-electric functions were certified. The shingles can be integrated with any roofing system including tar shingles, Spanish clay tiles, or even slate or concrete, Allen said.
