A Pretty and Green Roof Over Your Head: 3 Reasons Why You Need Tesla’s New Roof

With every invention and discovery, it seems that the world can’t get green enough. Take for example Tesla’s new solar roof.

A new green product that’s bound to happen with the $2 billion acquisition of SolarCity Corp., a company that installs rooftop solar panels. Elon Musk’s Tesla Motors Inc. is now officially moving beyond cars and entering the clean energy sector through roofing.

In October 2016, on the set of Desperate Housewives, Tesla and SolarCity unveiled the solar roof – a fully functional roof, and aesthetically slick mind you, that also generate solar power.

Here are three reasons why you should at least check it out.

Raw Power and Reliability

Covered by a thin layer of tempered glass, Tesla claimed that each tile is extremely durable and impact resistant. The color louver film underneath the tempered glass is what allows each tile to blend with the roof without it being exposed to the sun.

In terms of power, it’s not much different from normal solar roofs save for the modification that allows it to produce more energy even at higher temperatures. The cells are directly integrated into each tile making it transparent to the sun and allowing it to draw energy from it. The roof will then be connected to an updated Powerwall 2 battery pack, making it a tad simpler for houses to be entirely powered by solar.

The new solar tiles have a drawback though. They will be two percent less efficient in converting sunlight to energy than SolarCity’s existing tiles due to the design. The coatings that make them seem like normal, albeit beautiful, tiles somewhat reduce their efficiency.

It Will Cost Less Than a ‘Dumb’ Roof

One of the first big announcement made by Musk after unveiling Tesla’s solar roof is that it would be cheaper than a normal roof. Electricity, he said, is just a bonus. Which, at first didn’t make sense.

Solar roofing as markedly expensive than your regular roof is to be expected. It is, after all, an investment which you’ll soon reap the rewards once you see your electric bill. That means Tesla’s solar roof should be more expensive than a regular roof considering that aside from the normal functions of a roof, it’s also capable of producing electricity.

Lastly, Aesthetics

The only plausible reason that this a solar roof can even be cheaper than a regular one must be subpar materials. A notion that Musk was quick to disabuse.

Made of textured glass, Musk claimed that the glass used is “tough as steel,” and that it can weather a lifetime of exposure to the elements. Furthermore, it can be fitted with a heating apparatus to quickly melt snow during the winter season.

The glass tiles come in four distinct flavors: Textured Glass, Slate Glass, Tuscan Glass, and Smooth Glass. Musk explained that they are made of quartz and that they have a “quasi-infinite lifetime.”

Also, the tiles will be hydrographically printed making each one a “special snowflake tile,” thus ensuring that no two roofs will be the same.

The Way Forward

Tesla’s foray into the renewable energy industry couldn’t have been more perfect.

Everywhere in the world, the clean energy sector is on the rise with solar energy overtaking coal for the first time as the world’s largest installed power source in 2016, wind power becoming cheaper than fossil fuels for the first time, and hydroelectricity powering 20% of all renewable electricity in 2015.

Even in Canada, albeit more slowly compared to the other major players such as China and Germany. However, there’s still much to be hopeful about since the renewable energy market is diversified in Canada with shoreline roofing in Victoria, British Columbia, wind farms in Ontario, and hydroelectric power plants in Newfoundland and Manitoba.

With Tesla, a company almost synonymous with high technology taking up the cudgels for renewable energy, the future of clean energy has never looked brighter.

First roofs, wonder what will be next?