SolarCity employees install traditional solar panels on a Los Angeles home (Photo: Steve & Michelle Gerdes, Flickr CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)ĬURWOOD: So, the advantage here to using regular solar roofing material is that it doesn't look great? KREAMER: Well, the tiles from the pictures that I have seen look like slate roof and terracotta and regular asphalt shingles which really match the kinds of roofs that customers have in the markets where solar is economically attractive, and clearly these are very attractive to put on your home, and they work very similarly to a regular PV panel that you might install or you're used to seeing. Nat, welcome back to Living on Earth.ĬURWOOD: First, what do these Tesla solar tiles look like, and how do they work? We called up Nat Kreamer, CEO of Spruce Finance, and Chairman of the National Solar Energy Industries Association, for his take on this new venture. And Elon Musk is also pointing to another potential technological breakthrough: Solar roof tiles, which he says are about as efficient as regular panels but look just like a normal roof. Incidentally, SolarCity is an underwriter of Living on Earth, but has no editorial input. And in a bid to create one stop shopping for home and mobile energy, he is pushing a merger of two companies where he is the largest shareholder: Tesla and the home solar company SolarCity. A rich man, thanks to his part in building Paypal, he’s the brains behind Tesla electric cars and SpaceX, the private company already delivering cargo to the International Space Station. CURWOOD: Elon Musk is one of those entrepreneurs who’s always trying, and often managing, to create game-changing innovations.
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