Anyone Using Uni-Solar Shingles or the Solarsheets?

If you were building a new house and could control the orientation and slope of the roof surfaces, the solar shingles would reduce the visual impact of the system. However, in most retrofit applications, you will lose a lot of power because of improper slope or orientation. So, unless you have a true south facing roof that is sloped at an angle near your latitude, the shingles will not work well for you. (Example: the 136W shingle panels might only provide 100W, so you would need 38 of them instead of 28. And it could be much worse)

I believe that you would be much happier with conventional PV panels. I would also give some consideration to mounting them in adjustable racks, so you could maximize the output by adjusting the tilt angle (slope) several times a year.   

Individual panels would also be a lot easier to replace if you have one fail.

As far as ideas for cash, a lot of banks will loan money for solar systems as home improvement loans. Depending on what state you live in, you may have substantial incentives (sometimes up to 50 percent of the cost) available.

The $20K cost that you mentioned appears to be just the cost of the panels. You will most likely find that you need close to another $10k in other equipment/materials to make the system work, and more if you go with battery backup.

Probably just as well. It generally takes someone committed to "squeezing" as many watthours as possible from a PV array as opposed to say keeping it aesthetically pleasing for the neighbors. I mean when one considers the inflated prices of PV today, the fact that your state doesn't offer any worthwhile incentives for PV, a given amount of square footage, and last but not least available funds.
I did a comparison about 7 years ago of PV shingles and sheet as compared to PV modules and as far as watt per square footage PV modules where way above either sheets or shingles. The price difference after array mounts and such was negligible condiering the PV modules had a much higher number of hours of full rated output. How heat affects the sheet and shingle PV is another matter. Theres no where for the heat to go really and this could have a severe impact on the number of hours of full rated output. Unless your committed to saying the heck with the states lack of incentives and the utilities strangle hold on your paycheck each month, it might be better spent optimizing your homes energy efficiency.

If you really want to jump in to solar/energy efficient stuff, it might not be a bad idea to get the solar hot water heater.  If you don't use that much gas, probably that means you don't need a very large system.  Solar hot water is supposed to have a fairly short payback period.  Also going with a tankless water heater for backup is definitely a good idea.  Tankless heaters are much more efficient than having a tank. 

I wonder if it wouldn't be possible to slowly build up a PV array rather than getting it all installed at one time.  If you could learn about it and do the install work yourself it seems like you could slowly expand your system, provided you buy a large enough inverter to be able to handle a larger system.  I don't know if there's any problems with runnin an inverter with a much smaller load than its supposed to have, but I would guess it's not a problem.  I'm sure there are many people here more knowlegeable who would be able to tell you. 

PT,

Always go for conservation/reduction and efficiency first, before looking into alternate energy sources. We can learn a lot from Thomas Allen Schmidt on that score, I'm sure.

What is your home's primary heating source? Is cooling central AC or window units? Heating/cooling are the biggest energy users.

Solar thermal (air heating, domestic hot water (DHW), and radiant floor heating (via solar-heated water)) are vastly more efficient than PV. So, yes, look at the solar air heaters (SolarSheat, SunMate). There's now a smaller size SolarSheat(1000G) that may be more manageable than a full-size 1500G in some cases. Solar DHW is not to be sneezed at: highest efficiency, fastest payback. I take it your DHW is currently natural gas (or propane)? Payback's even better with electric, but don't count on any fuel prices holding steady-- esp. if we institute carbon taxes, as seems likely at some point. On-demand DHW heaters can save 10-15% on water heating by avoiding standing tank losses. Be sure to request a unit that can accept solar pre-heated water if you plan to go solar; they must be solar-ready and not all models are.

The whole discussion of PV shingles is moot: Unisolar will not make them anymore They were delisted by UL for installation issues. Good luck finding any. They still make laminates (only for standing-seam metal roofs) and framed mods.

[NOTE: AltE sales staff informs me that Unisolar is NOT making framed modules any longer. -BG]

Double-check incentives at DSIRE website:

www.dsireusa.org

I see some recent activity-- interpretation of rules-- that may affect the state net metering rules.

In any case, you'll still qualify for the recently-extended and sweetened Federal fax credit (ITC), which no longer has a $2K cap:

http://www.seia.org/cs/federal_issues/the_investment_tax_credit_itc

Sounds like you're making strides in your house. Buy a Watt meter to measure specific loads. We sell some, which you can see low on this page listing:

http://store.altenergystore.com/Meters-Communications-Site-Analysis/Meters-Battery-Monitors/Power-Meters/c631/

(Kill-a-Watt products), or you can buy them at local hardware or big-box home stores. You can learn a lot using them. (Watch my vid, linked from the Kill-a-Watt product page, to learn how to use it.)

Above all, self-edjumacate! We've got lots of free articles on this site (look under the University tab for "AltE University Library") and read away. And check out my free webinar about strategic approach to renewables:

http://store.altenergystore.com/Books-Classes-Webinars/Webinars/FREE-Webinar-Preparing-for-Renewable-Energy/p6184/

Cheers,

Ben
AltE