It's almost here - the DOW POWERHOUSE Solar Shingle

DOW POWERHOUSE™ Solar Shingle: Making Renewable Energy a Reality for Everyone.

I N N O V A T I O N
Spring 2011
DOW POWERHOUSE™ Solar Shingle: Making Renewable Energy a Reality for Everyone. The shingle that powers your home is almost here. In the meantime, we wanted to update you on some exciting news in solar technology. You're part of a growing movement that's looking to switch to clean, renewable energy. And Dow has been busy turning solar potential into solar reality. Click here to find out how solar is growing across the U.S.
A Few Facts on the DOW POWERHOUSE™ Solar Shingle System: It works like a residential shingle – in both its installation technique and in the roofing protection it provides. It generates solar electricity by integrating solar cells into the design. In other words, the shingle is the solar panel, and the solar panel is the shingle. It's going to be on rooftops before the end of 2011 in select U.S. markets. We will keep you posted on its availability. Solar Power Is More Affordable Than Ever In addition to being easy to install, the DOW POWERHOUSE™ Solar Shingles are more affordable than you think. Everyone in the U.S. qualifies for a 30% federal tax credit. These credits are still available, plus there may be state and local incentives in your area to make your initial costs even lower. Not to mention what you will save on your electric bills once your house is making its own energy. For more information on how your state is working with solar power, check out this article in Fortune magazine: "The Most Powerful States for Solar." Vote Solar Putting Solar on the Agenda The Vote Solar Initiative is a political action group committed to driving renewable energy initiatives at the state and local level. Dow recently sponsored their yearly Equinox conference and fundraiser, helping them to raise solar awareness in communities across the U.S. Click here to visit their site and see how you can participate in your community.	Dow Is Bringing Solar to the People Dow Solar is leading the way into solar energy for everyone. We're working with builders, roofers, legislators and solar advocates, plus we're participating in events that promote cutting-edge solar technology. Here are some of the events we're involved with or sponsored: Affordable Residential Solar Power Is Hot at the International Builders Show DOW POWERHOUSE™ Solar Shingles brought home the "Best of Show 2011." Dow was honored for overcoming the technical challenges of seamlessly integrating photovoltaic cells into a shingle that blends into the rest of the roof. For the first time, solar roofing can be functional and beautiful, too. Since our solar shingle can make residential solar power an affordable and clean energy reality, it's no wonder why AvidBuilder called it one of the top 10 products of IBS 2011. You can watch the video here. Dow Helps to Expand Solar in Colorado with CoSEIA CoSEIA is the Colorado Solar Energy Industries Association, and Dow was the lead sponsor for their annual conference. Over 450 solar industry leaders came to the conference – from as far away as China – to discuss the future of solar. CoSEIA works to advance solar policy, remove market barriers and improve education and outreach. Click here to visit CoSEIA and see what they are doing to bring solar power to the people. Sharing Our Innovations with Other Revolutionary Thinkers at TED Dow was proud to sponsor and be one of the six companies invited to participate on a panel discussion at the TED Innovation Lab. TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is a nonprofit group dedicated to bringing thought leaders in related fields together to make Ideas Worth Spreading. Dow's Global Director of Research and Development, Dave Parrillo, attended the panel moderated by Thomas Goetz, Executive Editor of WIRED magazine. The subject was how innovation is sparked and nurtured. Click here to learn more about TED.
Let Us Know. Click the survey image below to take the poll.
Wrap Up You're part of a growing community that wants to make solar energy a reality. And the best way to make that happen is to share. Send your friends, customers and fellow solar enthusiasts here to receive our e-communications. And as we get ready to bring the POWERHOUSE™ Solar Shingles to market later this year, staying on our email list will ensure you will be among the first to get updates on where, when, how and how much. Stay tuned!

®™Trademark of The Dow Chemical Company ("Dow") or an affiliated company of Dow Dow Solar – 1605 Joseph Drive – 200 Larkin – Midland, MI – 48674

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New Solar Roofing Option is Win-Win

On Tue, Nov 16, 2010 at 9:13 AM, Scott's Contracting <scottscontracting@gmail.com> wrote:

A Roof that: Generates Electricity is a Win-Win for Generating Clean Electricity and Protecting your Home-Scotty

Does your Shingle Roof need Replaced? Consider a Roofing Shingle that also creates Electricity.  The new DOW POWERHOUSE™ Solar Shingle Received UL Certification as a Roofing Material that creates Clean Green Energy via the Integrated Solar Photovoltaic Electricity Producing System. 

The DOW™ POWERHOUSE™ solar shingle has chosen thin-film CIGS (Copper Indium Gallium deSelenide) as the PV material in the Solar Shingle to convert the Suns Rays into use-able Electricity for your Home and Business.

DOW™ POWERHOUSE™ solar shingle will become available to the US public mid 2011.  Till then Scotts Contracting will be researching the Electrical Out-Put, Efficiency, and Other variables that are needed to determine if the Solar Shingle is a cost-effective option for your Integrated Roofing and Solar Photovoltaic Project. 


Prior Articles Here:

Solar and the Novermber Election- Political Issues vs Industry

Oct 19, 2010-$1 billion investment Dow Chemical announced last February it is making to build a manufacturing plant in Michigan for its shingle-integrated solar PV technology.

DOW POWERHOUSE™ Solar Shingles Receive UL Certification

© Business Wire 2010
2010-11-02 13:12:32 -

Today, The Dow Chemical Company (NYSE: DOW) and Underwriters Laboratories (UL) announced that the DOW™ POWERHOUSE™ Solar Shingle is the first residential solar roofing shingle with an integrated connection system to receive Underwriters Laboratories (UL) safety certification.

The DOW™ POWERHOUSE™ Solar Shingle is a ground-breaking photovoltaic solar panel in the form of a solar roofing shingle that can be integrated into rooftops with standard asphalt shingle materials. It reduces installation time and complexity using a revolutionary system design that eliminates on-roof wiring, minimizes through-roof penetrations, and allows the product to be installed in the same manner as a standard roofing shingle.


"The receipt of UL safety certification represents the successful completion of a rigorous and comprehensive multi-test process for the DOW™ POWERHOUSE™ Solar Shingles," said Dow Solar Vice President, Jane Palmieri.

"This is another important milestone towards the planned 2011 commercialization of Dow's solar shingles, and represents a
crucial third-party validation of the safety of this product.

We are dedicated to making solar easy for homeowners, builders, and roofing contractors who already trust the performance and safety of building products bearing the Dow brand."

Given the new and unique nature of the DOW™ POWERHOUSE™ Solar Shingle, Dow Solar worked closely with UL - a trusted global resource for product safety certification and compliance solutions - to indentify a series of rigorous tests to assess the safety of the unique design and of all the elements of the combined solar and roofing product. The final listing awarded to the DOW™ POWERHOUSE™ Solar Shingles represents compliance to a diverse sequence of UL's safety and building standards, specifically, UL 746, 1703, 1897, 790, 486 and 514. Over 50 individual tests were conducted to assess the safety of the DOW™ POWERHOUSE™ Solar Shingles against building code standards, including wind and fire resistance, and electrical code requirements, such as proper wiring and photovoltaic (PV) connections.

"UL has been leading the development of PV equipment testing methodologies and standards since the 1980s, and has contributed to the safe operation of PV equipment by providing safety testing and certification services for PV equipment manufacturers worldwide," said Jeff Smidt, Vice President and General Manager for UL's Global Energy business. "In the case of Dow's solar shingles, we had to take a unique approach in order to test the product as both a roofing shingle and a PV system. We are proud to provide the UL mark to this first-of-its-kind solar shingle from Dow."

In addition to the vitally important design and material safety tests performed by UL, Dow will continue with its own reliability and durability testing in support of commercialization. Dow is currently performing tests on installed systems of DOW™ POWERHOUSE™ Solar Shingles in addition to individual shingles in order to assess the durability of the product, utilizing Design for Reliability and Physics of Failure methodologies to measure performance against weather, extreme temperatures and more.

Dow has chosen thin-film CIGS (Copper Indium Gallium deSelenide) as the PV material in the DOW™ POWERHOUSE™ solar shingle, and Global Solar Energy (Tucson, AZ) was selected as the preferred supplier in support of the product launch. CIGS technology offers the best balance of low cost and highest sunlight conversion efficiency of the commercialized thin film technologies available today, and the flexible foil substrate of the Global Solar Energy CIGS cells provides the necessary level of flexural durability to allow the DOW™ POWERHOUSE™ Solar Shingle to perform reliably in a demanding application environment.

Breaking the traditional barriers to residential solar adoption – complexity, affordability and aesthetics – this technology offers the missing link needed by the energy industry to drive solar adoption across the U.S., and will bring the possibility of safe and reliable solar power to American households. The DOW™ POWERHOUSE™ Solar Shingle is expected to be commercially available in select U.S. markets by mid 2011.



About DOW™ POWERHOUSE™

In 2007, Dow received a $20 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy as part of its Solar America Initiative to develop "building integrated" solar arrays for the residential and commercial markets. In October 2009, Dow Solar unveiled the DOW™ POWERHOUSE™ Solar Shingle as the first in a portfolio of building related solar energy generating products.

Since its introduction, the Solar Shingle has been hailed as revolutionary, including being named one of the "50 Best Inventions of 2009" by TIME magazine.

The innovative product design provides an unprecedented integrated roof appearance and simplified installation. It combines a roofing shingle with a solar cell, enabling the DOW™ POWERHOUSE™ Solar Shingle to be installed by a roofer along with standard asphalt roofing materials.

This makes the DOW™ POWERHOUSE™ Solar Shingle an easy choice for homeowners looking for a residential solar solution that is easy to install and aesthetically pleasing. Building Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV) products from Dow Solar are evidence that Dow is focused on developing energy alternatives and expanding Dow's commitment to use chemistry to solve the world's energy challenges. More information about Dow Solar can be found at www.dowsolar.com : .


About Dow

Dow combines the power of science and technology with the "Human Element" to passionately innovate what is essential to human progress.

The Company connects chemistry and innovation with the principles of sustainability to help address many of the world's most challenging problems such as the need for clean water, renewable energy generation and conservation, and increasing agricultural productivity. Dow's diversified industry-leading portfolio of specialty chemical, advanced materials, agrosciences and plastics businesses delivers a broad range of technology-based products and solutions to customers in approximately 160 countries and in high growth sectors such as electronics, water, energy, coatings and agriculture. In 2009, Dow had annual sales of $45 billion and employed approximately 52,000 people worldwide. The Company's more than 5,000 products are manufactured at 214 sites in 37 countries across the globe. References to "Dow" or the "Company" mean The Dow Chemical Company and its consolidated subsidiaries unless otherwise expressly noted. More information about Dow can be found at www.dow.com : .



®TM Trademark of The Dow Chemical Company ("Dow") or an affiliated company of Dow





For editorial information:Greg BaldwinThe Dow

Chemical Company+1 989 638-0745 gbaldwin@dow.com : mailto:gbaldwin@dow.com orChris
GramsGolinHarris+1 312 729-4364 cgrams@golinharris.com : mailto:cgrams@golinharris.com orKate
NigroDow Solar+1 989 638 9629 knigro@dow.com : mailto:knigro@dow.com

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http://www.stlouisrenewableenergy.blogspot.com
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scotty@stlouisrenewableenergy.com

Solar and the Novermber Election- Political Issues vs Industry

Rhone Resch: An Industry, Not an Issue

By David Wagman, Chief Editor, Renewable Energy World North America magazine   |   October 13, 2010  

Rhone Resch looks to the November mid-term elections and worries that renewable energy–and solar in particular–may be cast as a political issue and not recognized as the industry both have become.

 

Tulsa, OK, USA -- "Any time you are embraced by the administration it's a great thing, but opponents to the administration can make it work against you," said Resch, the 44-year-old president and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association. This Washington, D.C.-based trade group represents the interests of the solar energy industry. Resch said he expects the mid-term congressional elections to result in more of a numerical balance between Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill. But he also believes fewer opportunities will exist for Congress to pass aggressive legislative initiatives that benefit renewables.

The solar industry became something of a political target in August. That was when $1.5 billion was pulled from Department of Energy loan guarantee programs by lawmakers as they looked for money to fund a bill benefitting teachers and state health care programs.
"Basically, it came down to political pressure that forced the leadership in Congress to search broadly to pay for education and state-level health care programs," Resch said. Assurances have since come from the Speaker of the House, the Senate Majority Leader and the White House that money taken from renewable energy will be reallocated later. But in a conversation with The Interview, Resch expressed frustration that the Department of Energy may be taking too long to make loan guarantees available.
"It's been a slow, laborious process in a program with a short deadline," he said. As many as 80 loan guarantee applications for solar energy projects remain under review at DOE. One of the only solar-focused loan guarantees made to date–a $530 million guarantee to California-based Solyndra in March 2009–was actually an application related to a 2005-vintage program.

Resch said he believes that as loan guarantee applications are reviewed, DOE and the Office of Management and Budget have imposed requirements and standards far more onerous than anything private sector lenders might propose. Perhaps more troubling, project developers have received little guidance from DOE on how to modify their applications to speed up the review process.

"It's the Department of Energy; they should be able to tap into the greatest minds to get technology assurances," Resch said. "DOE is slow in getting the money out."
Resch grew up in Wilton, Conn. and got an early idea that the environment might be his career after his kindergarten teacher presented him with a "Class Environmentalist" award, most likely for efforts to protect bugs on the playground, he said. (In February 2010 this magazine and RenewbleEnergyWorld.com presented Resch with a Leadership Award for his more recent work on behalf of renewable energy.)

Resch attended the University of Michigan and holds an MPA in Management from Syracuse University's Maxwell School as well as a Master of Environmental Engineering from SUNY Syracuse. During the Clinton administration Resch served as program manager at the Environmental Protection Agency's Climate Protection Division and later worked for the Natural Gas Supply Association. At EPA he directed the Natural Gas STAR program, which encouraged oil and natural gas producers to voluntarily cut methane emissions that result from leaks and losses in pipelines, gas gathering and related processing facilities. His time working with an "adversary" industry helped him appreciate the benefits of looking for common ground and areas of cooperation across the energy industry.

He views the EPA as both the logical and the correct choice to pursue carbon and greenhouse gas regulation. He also sees the natural gas industry as potentially a strong ally for the solar industry.

On the first point, Resch said carbon dioxide emissions from the electric power industry presents a classic example of inefficiency that can and should be corrected through regulation. Fossil-fired generators may object to new regulations, but the long-term effects of regulation typically benefit the economy and the environment.

"EPA regulating carbon emissions is a very, very important first step to addressing global warming," he said.

When it comes to alliances with natural gas, Resch said the fossil fuel could be a good friend of renewable energy as perhaps 50 GW of coal-fired generation is retired in the coming years due to regulation and obsolescence. The natural gas industry expects an extended period of stable supply and prices as new, so-called unconventional resources are developed, primarily in tight sand and shale geologic formations across the Appalachians and into Texas. As these fields are exploited, opportunities will likely emerge to marry natural gas-fired peaking and intermediate-load plants with renewable sources such as solar photovoltaic and solar thermal to replace coal-based generation.

The combination of low natural gas prices, growth of utility-scale solar and interest in renewable energy among independent power producers signals the "beginning of a partnership" with natural gas, Resch said. At the same time, many utilities realize that solar energy can help them meet peak loads. After all, solar energy hits its maximum output around the same time of day that peak demand occurs. Solar energy has "huge value," Resch said, because it can help meet peak load while reducing the need to burn natural gas in peaking facilities. At the same time it can strengthen reliability, particularly if solar PV is distributed widely across a utility's service territory.

As state renewable portfolio standards evolve, Resch sees the need for mechanisms that create a distributed generation carve-out. Such mechanisms would create a solar renewable energy credit to send price signals. In east coast markets, for example, such credits already generate price signals that help justify more renewable energy investment in general and more solar in particular.

Unfortunately, Resch sees few of those same principles reflected in proposed federal renewable portfolio standards. "A straight 15 percent standard by 2020 doesn't benefit all technologies," he said.

Also inadequate–although appreci- ated–was the 30 percent tax credit for manufacturing included as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the popularly termed "stimulus bill" of 2009.

"It's great it was created but it's woefully inadequate" to support the U.S. solar manufacturing industry, Resch said. One reason is that in the competition for manufacturing jobs, Asian governments are proving to be more aggressive than almost any U.S. state or even the federal government. Where a manufacturer might receive a one-time tax credit to locate a solar technology operation in a state, foreign governments may offer incentives that include long-term tax holidays, free land, low-interest loans and workforce training.
Such incentives are largely "not matched" in the U.S., Resch said. In the coming years, he expects the cost of manufacturing to focus less on the cost of labor and more on the cost of transportation and the importance of access to markets. It's on those points that he sees U.S. companies having an advantage as the domestic solar energy market grows, perhaps even to lead the world within the next several years. Strengthening the prospects for manufacturers is the fact that solar energy comprises multiple technologies, everything from concentrating PV to building-integrated PV to solar thermal and hot water production.

"All have different applications and price points" as well as manufacturing opportunities, Resch said. Arizona, Oregon, North Carolina and Georgia have shown leadership in offering incentives to manufacturers. And Resch pointed to the $1 billion investment Dow Chemical announced last February it is making to build a manufacturing plant in Michigan for its shingle-integrated solar PV technology.

"To be honest, a lot of people poo-poohed solar," Resch said. That attitude is largely a thing of the past and states now view solar as an attractive industry both for manufacturing jobs and for clean energy.

In his six years as head of SEIA, Resch said his most satisfying accomplishment has been to help the industry speak with one voice and with a consistent message. He said the investment tax credit might not have been created without the industry working and speaking collectively when it went to Capitol Hill.

"It takes a few dozen years to get to know how the legislative process works," Resch said of working in the nation's capital. He acknowledged that it's a big challenge to work with companies and CEOs to keep them together and on message. "We've taken a fractured industry and brought it together to be a powerful voice in Washington D.C.," Resch said.
And–no small feat–to reach a point where solar energy may finally be seen as an industry and not merely as an issue.
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