Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by mrpg on Sunday May 14 2017, @06:45AM   Printer-friendly
from the hot-idea dept.

Tesla's Solar Roof Pricing Is Cheap Enough to Catch Fire

Tesla Inc. has begun taking $1,000 deposits for its remarkable solar roof tiles—to be delivered this summer at a price point that could expand the U.S. solar market.

Tesla will begin with production of two of the four styles it unveiled in October: a smooth glass and a textured glass tile. 1 Roofing a 2,000 square-foot home in New York state—with 40 percent coverage of active solar tiles and battery backup for night-time use—would cost about $50,000 after federal tax credits and generate $64,000 in energy over 30 years, according to Tesla's website calculator.

That's more expensive upfront than a typical roof, but less expensive than a typical roof with traditional solar and back-up batteries. The warranty is for the lifetime of your home.

"The pricing is better than I expected, better than everyone expected," said Hugh Bromley, a solar analyst at Bloomberg New Energy Finance who had been skeptical about the potential market impact of the new product. Tesla's cost for active solar tiles is about $42 per square foot, "significantly below" BNEF's prior estimate of $68 per square foot, Bromley said. Inactive tiles will cost $11 per square foot.

Also: Elon Musk has discovered a new passion in life — and it could be Tesla's best product yet


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 3, Informative) by Thexalon on Sunday May 14 2017, @04:25PM

    by Thexalon (636) on Sunday May 14 2017, @04:25PM (#509510)

    Can we just get our governments out of the market, and let renewables settle into the market wherever they belong?

    No, we can't just get the government out and have perfectly functioning free markets. I know that libertarianism as a philosophy basically takes that as a given, but it's never shown to be true. In the case of the energy sector:
    1. All kinds of large-scale energy production requires government involvement, because it involves all kinds of actions that affect third parties. For example, the fracking techniques now used to collect natural gas in many places also affect the water supply. Coal mining companies have to deal with the coal ash and waste. Nuclear has to figure out what to do about spent fuel rods.
    2. Any kind of distribution system uses government involvement to handle the easements to put in the lines and other equipment. Otherwise, for instance, any high-voltage line project could be completely derailed by a relatively small group of property owners refusing to allow the lines to cross their property.
    3. Lots of costs involved in collecting energy will not be factored into the price, thanks to externalities.

    Also, I can't help but notice that you seem to think you're the first person who noticed that solar power might be affected by nighttime and cloud cover, which is obviously silly.

    There is also another source of renewable power that works perfectly well at night and under cloud cover: windmills.

    --
    The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Moderation   +1  
       Informative=1, Total=1
    Extra 'Informative' Modifier   0  
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   3