How Green Building Incentives make solar roofing attractive

Living in a time of green building technology innovations and financial incentives, makes integrating green building technology not only cool, but also financially smart and environmentally responsible. I am sure that you have seem multiple examples of solar roofing panels on residential homes, and chances are that it immediately brought up two questions…

Pros and Cons of older Solar Roofing

Are solar roofing panels affordable enough to install on your existing roof and are they long lasting enough to justify the investment? You may have also wondered about what happens if your roof fails before your solar panels do, and what a task it would be to replace your existing roof with the solar panels on it and still functioning.

In the past solar roofing technology was limited by a few factors. Number one, solar roofing technology has always been pricey. Number two, installing the solar roofing panels on the roof involved significant amount of work and resulted in penetrations to existing roof. Clearly, if the existing roof failed prematurely because of roof penetrations or due to its age, then it would be necessary to remove the solar panels before replacing the roof. The complexity of the process and the number of potential pitfalls made the investment into solar roofing panels questionable.

Solar Roofing today

But, technology does not stand still, and recent technological advances in solar roofing technology offer homeowners long lasting and economical roofing systems that require no roof penetrations and are easy to install. One of the latest advancement in solar roofing technology is as simple as pill and stick process of attaching bumper stickers to your car. Solar photovoltaic Laminates represent new generation in solar roofing. These photovoltaic laminates can be attached to standing seam metal roofing panels using a peel and stick method.

Installation of Solar PV Laminates with Standing Seam Roofing panels.

Combining solar roofing panels with standing seam roofing panels offers the answer to the question of permanency of solar roofing systems. The secret to a long lasting solar roofing system lies in the very roof that’s underneath the solar roofing panels. Simple, yet profound. The problem of the past with solar roofing was that asphalt shingle roofs that had solar roofing panels installed on them would often times fail prematurely due to its age or the fact that solar panels required roof penetrations that eventually could cause a roof leak.

How standing seam offers reliable solar roofing solution

Unlike asphalt shingle roof that is statistically destined to fail in 17 years, standing seam metal roof is made with metal, which is a long lasting and environmentally safe green building material that keeps your roof cooler in a summer, helps to prevent ice dam problems in the winter, and is fully recyclable at the end of its service life. Thus, a metal roof is essentially a long lasting and energy efficient roof that is good for the building owner and the environment. The benefit of combing metal roof with solar roofing panels is that by going with metal roof you can rest assured that your roof will last for a long time requiring no repairs or causing problems with premature roof leaks. Obviously, metal roof is a specialty roofing system that requires special knowledge and tools to be installed correctly. Hence, you need to make sure that your contractor has installed a good number of metal roofing systems successfully before you do business together. When you combine your standing seam metal roof with solar roofing laminates, you get a system that is light weight, reliable, and there are no roof penetrations to worry about in the future.

Thin Film Solar Roofing Laminates Installation Video

Solar Roofing as investment

Just like with any home improvement project, it is important to consider not only the coolness factor of your new project, but also its validity in terms of effectiveness gained on a dollar spent, long term cost savings, and how the new improvement will appraise your property value. Generally speaking, modern solar roofing is cost effective solution especially when it is combined with a reliable roofing system. With all of today’s solar and green building credits, a solar roofing system can pay for itself in about 5 to 7 years. Of Course, you should consult a solar roofing company to see if a new solar roofing system is a plausible option for your home and weather your will get a good return on your investment. There are many different factors that can affect the effectiveness of your solar roofing system, but if your roof faces south, then your home may be a potential candidate for a solar roofing system. I recommend that you read DIY Solar PV installation guide so that you can get an idea on weather or not a solar roof may be a plausible solution for your building.

References

http://coolflatroof.com/ib-solar-roof.php

http://metal-roof.blogspot.com/2009/01/solar-metal-roofing.html

http://www.greensolarcafe.com/solar-wind-hydro-renewable-energy/solar-metal-roofing/