Passive Solar Glass Roofing Tiles

October 25th, 2010 by Zachary Shahan

Interested in re-roofing your house? Or building a home and wondering what roofing system to go with? Check this out… Swedish company SolTech Energy has developed some cool-looking, award-winning solar glass roofing tiles. (Note: these are not active solar tiles but a passive solar roofing option.)

The glass tiles can be installed using traditional roof tile installation methods, and the tiles have a longer life than conventional concrete or clay roofing tiles.

How does the solar glass roofing system work? Preston Koerner of Jetson Green reports: “air below the glass tile is heated by the sun and redirected for use by the central heating system. The system works with air-based and water-based heating systems, including, for example, a ground source heat pump, air heat pump, pellet boiler, oil boiler, or electric boiler.”

The system is available commercially in Sweden and Spain and SolTech Energy intends to bring it to the U.S. in 2011.

The roof system is especially helpful in snowy climates since snow easily slides down the glassy tiles. The system won the Hottest New Materials 2010 award from the North Building Fair (aka Nordbygg).

Photo Credits: SolTech Energy

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Tags: building, glass roofing tiles, passive solar, passive solar energy, roofing tiles, solar glass roofing tiles, solar roof, solar roofs

About the Author

Zachary Shahan spends most of his time here on CleanTechnica as the director/chief editor. Otherwise, he's probably enthusiastically fulfilling his duties as the director/editor of Solar Love, EV Obsession, Planetsave, or Bikocity. Zach is recognized globally as a solar energy, electric car, and wind energy expert. If you would like him to speak at a related conference or event, connect with him via social media. You can connect with Zach on any popular social networking site you like. Links to all of his main social media profiles are on ZacharyShahan.com.

C-m Corr-Holmes

Wow–those glass tiles would COOK some major heat during summer sun–they’d need serious venting to outside–and, how much would the excess summer heat raise “heat island” effect in cities where many people used these?
It’s not like owners can cover them to prevent summer over-heating…we covered our solar air heaters during summer to prevent overheating.
C-m Corr-Holmes

Just looked at their website. Was hoping to find ‘em in the USA by now [2014]–they were supposed to be here in 2011. Looked at the price of the tiles—they come as singles or doubles, and the glass parts are spend but do-able. IT’s the solar under-pinnings that can be costly. Not sure what they make their stand-alone wall panel air heater of, but it looks like it’s made of soft plastic–yet costs as much or more than hard-materials being sold for same things in USA. But REALLY good looking, and should be very durable. Get extra tiles to replace broken ones, just in case.
Doesn’t look like these can fit onto a curved roof surface, though.
Patricia Green

http://cleantechnica.com/2010/10/25/solar-glass-roof-tiles/
Pingback: Solar Shingles About to Blow Up? – CleanTechnica: Cleantech innovation news and views
http://cleantechnica.com/author/susan Susan Kraemer

LOve this Zach – wrote about these at the green building blog I write for – what a great product!
Karen

They mention snow, but not hail or hurricanes. They would make quite a mess in hurricane force winds if they came off like other roofing material inevitably does.

On that note, how would the insurance companies receive a claim to replace them if needed…
http://globalglassonion.blogspot.com/ rjs

looks quite a bit like transparent plastic panels already in use…
http://www.dimensionbuildlv.com remodeling

I’m sure they have durability built into their designs, not sure how well the look would be received here in the U.S.But this would be a good beginning if they were solar panels for power, now you’ve got something.
edwin

How well will this hold up against hailstorms?
- http://www.zacharyshahan.com Zachary Shahan
  
  Looks like some pretty solid glass, but good question… Not sure how often they get hailstorms in Sweden, where it was developed, but seems that they would be quite aware of that question/issue.
http://www.magnumroofingusa.com/ bill demeter

GREAT PICTURES~
- http://www.zacharyshahan.com Zachary Shahan
  
  I know, love those