What's All the Fuss about Solar?--Dissecting the Photovoltaic Integration with Metal Roofing/Part 1

摘要

There has been much press in recent months and years about solar photovoltaic integration with metal roofing. What is this technology all about? What is a "megawatt"? What does it mean to be "grid connected"? Why do I need to know? What opportunities will open for metal roofing and PV? This two-part series will help explain what the excitement is all about and why PVs are well-suited to metal roofing-perhaps more so than any other roof type. The development of renewable energy is on the rise, not only in the U.S. but also globally. The concept of clean energy is growing in popularity, traversing not only party politics but also international politics as it reduces dependence on fossil fuels-most notably foreign oil. Government incentives (and public support) are likely to continue and expand. PV cells don't "burn" anything to create energy, so there are zero pollutants. And solar is the world's most continuously renewable resource, so advantages of these systems are both financial and ecological. While fossil fuel costs are on the rise and increasingly unstable, manufactured costs of PVs continue to fall and stabilize. PV efficiencies are also improving, and costs are expected to be well below 2 dollars per watt by 2012. (In 1976 they were 40 dollars.) Some industry sources have even predicted technologies with costs as low as 1 dollar per watt within a few years.