Solar Shingles vs. Solar Panels: Should You Go For Solar Shingles Now?
GAF Timberline Solar Shingles have broken the ground for many roofing publications. While some homeowners believe it's an excellent substitute to solar panels, some believe it doesn't match the latter's energy efficiency and other advantages. Learn more about it below.
Nailable To Roofs
Versus Tesla's solar shingles, GAF's solar shingles offer much more viable roofing installation processes. For example, you can nail GAF's solar shingles while Tesla roof shingles require special equipment and installation procedures. Roof nailing is a much more secure and proven method to roof nailing and otherwise.
Installable By Certified GAF Roofers
Certified GAF roofers can perform GAF Timberline solar shingle installations with full product and labor warranty. With an additional certification program, GAF roofers can give you a solar shingle system that saves energy for your property.
Delivers 15-20% Solar Energy
GAF Timberline solar shingles deliver the same 15-20% solar energy efficiency as Tesla's solar shingle systems. However, they're easier and faster to purchase and install from reliable hardware sources.
Read an excellent review from CNET from this excerpt below.
A new kind of roof shingle called Timberline Solar blurs the lines between roofing and solar. Its form, appearance and installation are barely distinguishable from asphalt composition shingles, yet each one is a solar panel. If it can capture the public's imagination as elegantly as it captures the sun's energy, it could seriously increase the 10% rate of US homes that get solar when a new roof goes on.
As important as its physical form, Timberline Solar is sold and installed by existing roofing companies -- as opposed to solar companies frequently known for bombastic radio commercials and "free" or "act now" offers. Attracting homeowners solely via the roofing industry is possible because GAF Energy has designed Timberline Solar to be installed like a common asphalt composition roof shingle, that is, with nail guns and string lines (lag bolts and metal racks are nowhere to be seen). "This is meant to be a roofing shingle that happens to produce electricity," says Rey Holmes, vice president of services and product at GAF Energy.
Prior to installation, Timberline Solar doesn't look quite like a roof shingle nor a solar panel: It's a long, narrow piece of thermoplastic about a quarter inch thick, bonded to an integrated solar panel on top. The whole thing is a single, waterproof unit that you can walk on. Electrical wiring connecting each shingle is hidden under a low-profile plastic channel along the edge of a set of shingles. That wiring feeds a single inverter on the side of the house that converts the panels' direct current output to alternating current used in the home.
All types of solar panels must go through this conversion process -- solar installations are eventually an electrical job. The other method is to have a small "micro inverter" mounted at each solar panel, which has some benefits over single inverter arrangements. The roofers I spoke to subcontract that job to a local electrician rather than performing it in-house. (Continue reading here to learn more)
