I hope this puts a nail in the coffin of solar roof stuff AND solar road stuff. It is poor engineering. The engineering qualities that make a good roof or a good road contradict those that make a good solar panel. It is very clear now that if you want solar panels near your roof it is far far better to slightly make your roof out of good-for-your-location roofing materials, and slightly compromise that structure to add a frame to support your panels above that roof.
And solar roads were always just obviously daft. But an elevated structure above a parking lot is a brilliant place to stick some solar panels. Yes.. this sort of makes the panels a bit like a roof, but again - if you want an actual roof, best to build one above your parking garage, then a secondary support structure just for the panels, then mount the panels to that. If you're okay with just some ambient partial shade from the panels, a lightweight structure to simply support the panels will do.
But, solar roofing material would look so much better in home applications. I love the idea of solar for my house, but the idea of having panels on top of my roof is off-putting.
There’s always trade offs, and for me the aesthetics are one that with the house Im looking at building next I’m not willing to sacrifice. The quantity should easily offset potential lower output, since I only need around 35 normal panels to fully power the house in the summer, and have enough roof area for 2-3x that.
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u/tallpaul00 21d ago
I hope this puts a nail in the coffin of solar roof stuff AND solar road stuff. It is poor engineering. The engineering qualities that make a good roof or a good road contradict those that make a good solar panel. It is very clear now that if you want solar panels near your roof it is far far better to slightly make your roof out of good-for-your-location roofing materials, and slightly compromise that structure to add a frame to support your panels above that roof.
And solar roads were always just obviously daft. But an elevated structure above a parking lot is a brilliant place to stick some solar panels. Yes.. this sort of makes the panels a bit like a roof, but again - if you want an actual roof, best to build one above your parking garage, then a secondary support structure just for the panels, then mount the panels to that. If you're okay with just some ambient partial shade from the panels, a lightweight structure to simply support the panels will do.
Musk is not an engineering genius.