A solar roof. That's what I want. I don't mean "solar panels on a roof," and I don't mean those little shingles the same shape and size of regular three-tab shingles but with photovoltaic cells on them: I mean a
solar roof.
I admit this is not quite as ambitious as dreaming about flying cars, or computer-slash-TV eyeglasses that project images directly into your eyes for the ultimate augmented reality experience. And it is not as noble as saying "I wish all the people of the world could live in peace and harmony, like in those old soda commercials." But from the standpoint of knowing which technologies will or will not really make a difference in the world, one should never discount the transformative effect of making an existing something more durable and efficient.
We have long wanted to put solar panels on our own house. There are rebates, and various programs, and choices between thin-film and more conventional panels, and so on and so forth, but what has always irritated me is that whatever is chosen, the end result is annoyingly suboptimal. First you have to pay to roof your house, making it waterproof and weatherproof. Then you have to insulate your attic heavily, because a summertime roof gets to ovenlike temperatures, transferring massive quantities of heat inside the house. Then on top of the whole structure you plunk down some solar panels, bolting them down to your already shingled roof, rendering the shingles invisible but not irrelevant, because the panels don't do squat in the way of weatherproofing themselves, short of providing a wee bit of insulation, and all seems ... suboptimal, yes? It cannot be that this is the bestest and forever-est way to put a damn roof on a house. Not even close, in fact. Fifty years from now, I have confidence we will have invented something better, which is good because the best roof available right now will only last fifty years itself, and that's if you're damn lucky. No, we need something better. We need the future to hurry up, damn it.
Here is what I want. I want my solar roof, which means I do not want to have to shingle first, solarize second. I want a series of solar sheets that can be put up as easy as putting up plywood or metal panels, and the sheets will generate electricity, and the sheets will plug in to each other, and the sheets will waterproof and weatherproof the damn house themselves, because they will snap together in a watertight, weathertight way. No asphalt shingles, because these sheets will be the shingles already, and be cheap enough to be a realistic replacement. These sheets can be cut with a power saw, and will themselves provide airflow for cooling, and they will harness excess roof heat and use it to help heat your domestic water, and they will sound like wind chimes, smell like vanilla, produce their own rainbows during storms, comfort you when you are feeling down, and automatically housetrain any cat or dog that comes within fifty yards of them.
Yes, we have "solar shingles" now. They are absurdly expensive. Yes, we have strips of thin-film substance now that can be pasted onto a metal roof, but you still need to install an entire metal roof to do it. No, as technophile of the highest order I demand my solar roof, so scientists: Get cracking on that already.
The problem with any such scheme is the same as with all other construction: durability. Merely advancing durability without making any other changes in lifestyle whatsoever would go a very long way towards lessening environmental impacts of that given lifestyle. A roof that lasts one hundred years is twice as efficient as an otherwise-identical one that lasts 50, which is in turn doubly as efficient as one that lasts 25. Invent a simple waterproof paint that can stand up to sunlight and temperature for an indefinitely long period of time while still protecting whatever lies underneath and you will revolutionize human life: It sounds simple, but it is astonishingly difficult. Mere sunlight is a force that, over time, can destroy nearly anything on the planet. Water and simple cycles of day and night take care of the rest. Invent an inexpensive tarp, a simple damn fabric that can stand up to the weather for a hundred years, and you would likely win both a Nobel Prize and a street named after you in every farming town in America.
I am not one who thinks that sufficient technology can solve any problem—although an anti-bigotry shock collar, now that has some promise, now that I think about it—but there is quite a lot we can do to better lighten our gargantuan impact upon the planet, and nearly all of it would be a blessing to us as well. Durability is as important is efficiency, whether you are talking about a toaster oven or a roof. Durability can make a lot of things cheaper than they ordinarily would be. Durability means that no matter what it is, it won't be ending up in a landfill quite as fast, and you and I will both not have to pay to buy another one quite so fast. As for me, I want the day to come when every roof in America generates power, and I think that day will only come when "solar panels" become "solar roofing materials": things you buy at the hardware store, nail them up there, plug them all in and call it done for the next hundred years.
Solar roof, please?
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