Tesla CEO Elon Musk took to the stage at Universal Studios in LA promising to make solar sexy. And, I have to agree, he did succeed. He unveiled a range of textured glass tiles with integrated solar cells that are nearly indistinguishable from conventional tiling.
Musk revealed that a row of suburban American houses on Wisteria Lane—the old set of Desperate Housewives—were all, in fact, topped with solar roofs. Each house’s old roofing material had been stripped away, and replaced with one of four new styles of solar tile. From the street, it was virtually impossible to tell; the roofs retained a variety of traditional looks, from textured slate shingle to terra cotta tile.
The audience, a couple hundred invited guests, mostly Tesla owners, ooh-ed and ahh-ed in awe. These tiles coupled with the sleek update to the company’s energy-storing Powerwall and you are good to go!
The solar roofs are designed to be used with the Tesla Powerwall Version 2.0, which Musk also unveiled, is a bright white rectangle, and flatter than the first version released in April 2015. It will cost $5,500 for 14kWh of storage and 7kWh peak power draw. That’s enough to power a four bedroom house for a day.
Why do you need the battery? Once the panels are installed, they make electricity whenever the sun shines, with no moving parts, no noise, and, beyond the occasional cleaning, very little maintenance. The problem is, when the sun isn’t shining, like in the evenings when electricity demand peaks, they’re useless. Hence Tesla’s plan to integrate pretty panels with a battery. Generate and store by day, light up your house by night, and brag about it when you feel so inclined.
Another thing holding people back from switching to green electricity is that the large, purple-black sheets of glass don’t exactly blend in on a period house—or most other properties, for that matter.
