Video Of The Week: Solar Roof vs Solar Panels

We have had an order in for Tesla Solar Roof Tiles for almost two years, since they were announced back in 2017. Production delays and other issues have meant that we still don’t have them on our roof.

And they are more expensive than a regular roof plus traditional solar panels on the roof. But they look a lot better in my view.

This video explains all of that, and more, along with some helpful cost comparisons.

#climate crisis#hacking energy

Comments (Archived):

  1. gmalov

    Elon Musk and Team are truly amazing – a powerful vision!As this product matures and hits market at scale, the economics will improve and create market disruption. In the near future, I can imagine solar homes generating enough free + clean energy to power all our cars and daily devices.I will personally pay the initial premium to support this path…

    1. Vendita Auto

      True I did the same with with Apple

  2. jason wright

    I wonder what Nikola Tesla would think about having his name associated with (appropriated by) Elon Musk?

  3. Rick Mason

    I’ve always liked solar and loved the solar tiles when i first saw them. I don’t own a house but when I went to Tesla’s website I entered the address of the house I grew up in. I was pleasantly surprised when I entered the address and it said they didn’t recommend a solar roof because the ROI simply wasn’t there. The Lansing area is the second cloudiest city in the US next to Fairbanks, Alaska so this made complete sense.Then a friend ordered the roof and he said the website said there was a great ROI for him. So just for kicks I visited the site again and re-entered my folks home. Guess what? Now they recommended a solar roof! What happens when real life experience doesn’t match the ROI that the website promised? Teslanomics indeed!

  4. Pointsandfigures

    https://streetwiseprofessor… For a different take on renewables. TL:DR they are inefficient at scale for an on demand economy. For single purpose they might be efficient

    1. awaldstein

      don’t buy his argument, respect his intelligence, really hate his smugness and writing style but good to have a different view regardless.

        1. Pointsandfigures

          I want solar to work but so far it is very disappointing

          1. JLM

            .Solar works just fine. It has some inherent limitations and they are not going away. They can be minimally mitigated.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

        2. awaldstein

          This one is so one sided, it is even harder to glean value from but appreciate nonetheless as I’m devouring a fair bit on this now.I am naturally a believer and finding that hybrid grids are something that there is permeating belief top town and bottoms up.It’s coming.Shopping for a country spot and it will be solar without a doubt.

    2. Tom Labus

      Here is Gregor MacDonald’s work on the transition from fossil to electricity. This is some impressive work that he has done and continues to add to. http://gregor.us/

      1. Pointsandfigures

        thanks. I have met Gregor a few times. This is more a commentary about how renewables are changing the supply curve for energy-the study from the University of Chicago that Craig Pirrong writes about is about the policy inputs that go into the renewables. A slight difference.Renewables remain economically inefficient. Even when you input factors like global warming and clean environment. The reason is substitutes-nuclear is far more efficient per kilowatt and far cleaner.We should be building nuclear like crazy throughout the US. It would solve our emission issues, and it would drive the cost of all energy down for everyone, lifting up quality of life for even the poorest of the poor.I have spoken to nuclear physicists and scientists at Argonne National Lab. Even the ones working on solar agree.However, like Craig points out, society is still scared because of a Jane Fonda movie that was fiction.

        1. JamesHRH

          Could not agree more.Plus, if projects like this ( http://news.mit.edu/2018/me… generate huge results, you could generate the power where the uranium is located ( like this near ghost town, https://goo.gl/maps/K9cWu8w… ) & just ship the batteries around.

  5. awaldstein

    been curious about this so thanks.lifelong solar component, actually my first article as a paid stringer was with Citizens for a Solar Washington.considering a project that is building the software to manage solar and renewable inputs to the main energy grids so still fascinated by it.

  6. portfoliologic

    Maybe I’m wrong but it appears the Tesla solar roof is vaporware. The Buffalo factory is close to shutting down and is barely manned at this point. Solar City revenues have shrunk dramatically and their installations are trivial at this point. It all points to this line of business being written off. A good write up here:https://mansionengineer.com…

    1. JamesHRH

      Glad you beat me to this, as I tire of being a Tesla realist.

    2. jason wright

      Good to know, and i’m not surprised.Musk has never impressed me.

  8. Adam Pray

    might explain why my spot for solar tiles never got any attention during their spec contest. https://www.youtube.com/wat…

  9. Sierra Choi

    The problem with solar panels is that they are not fireproof, so essentially a fire hazard if you decide to put them on the roof and not separate from the house. I am wondering if the Tesla solar roof is fire proof?

  10. zakumanoff

    Looking forward to getting these, along with a Dandelion geothermal unit (once they’re available on long island) for our place in Springs.

  11. daryn

    Given your taste (from what I’ve seen) in real estate, I’m surprised you prefer the solar tiles that much. They seem best for replacing asphalt/shingle roofs on more traditional houses than new construction or more modern.We have a standing seam metal roof, and the panels are pretty low profile and blend in pretty nicely.https://uploads.disquscdn.c…

    1. Jeff Judge

      I dig what you’re doing here!