Building-Integrated Solar PV

GreenTech Media’s article Five Reasons Not to Get Too Excited About Tesla’s New Solar Roof is actually more compelling than I thought it was going to be when I opened it. It certainly is true that some extremely large and powerful forces have tried and failed in this space, largely due to the cost of the raw materials and the installation.  Of course, until now, none has been Elon Musk who seems to succeed, defying the odds, at anything he gets anywhere near.

Also, we need to keep in mind that:

The requirement of net zero carbon emissions for new construction will soon make an enormous change in the real estate market.  From the article linked in the previous sentence:

• In California most new homes and multi-family residential buildings up to three stories high will include solar rooftop panels beginning in 2020.
• Net-zero energy homes can produce as much energy as they consume and are built to optimize energy efficiency through airtight construction of roofs, walls, windows and foundations.
• The U.S. has an estimated 5,000 net-zero energy single-family homes today; California could add 100,000 a year.

and

Economies of scale haven’t kicked in here.  Building the first 100 personal computers costs hundreds of millions of dollars; I bought the laptop on which I’m writing this for about $250.