10/09/2025
Blog Post regarding huge energy left on the roof.
Solar thermal opportunity when paired with solar electric roofing can make a net zero ey home.
Supplying your own thermal energy for a home or business offers several compelling advantages, including cost savings, energy independence, environmental sustainability, and increased reliability of energy supply.
Cost Savings
Self-supplying thermal energy, especially through renewable sources like geothermal or solar thermal systems, can significantly reduce energy bills. Solar thermal systems, for instance, can cut heating and hot water costs by up to 70%, and geothermal systems offer very low operating costs compared to fossil fuel heating systems due to reduced fuel purchases and minimal maintenance needs.
Energy Independence and Stability
Generating your own thermal energy reduces reliance on external energy suppliers and protects against fluctuating energy prices and unstable fuel markets. This energy independence means you are less vulnerable to supply disruptions, geopolitical issues, and rising costs, effectively making you your own utility provider for heating and cooling needs.
Environmental Benefits
Using self-supplied thermal energy from renewable sources drastically reduces carbon emissions and reliance on fossil fuels, which contributes positively to climate protection and reduces your carbon footprint. This aligns with commitments to sustainability and can boost your homes or business’s green credentials.
Reliability and Performance
Self-generated thermal energy systems like geothermal have long lifespans and require minimal maintenance, which improves reliability compared to traditional heating systems that need frequent repairs and fuel deliveries. Businesses also benefit by mitigating the risk of operational interruptions due to power or heat supply failures.
Added Property Value and Corporate Image
Installing renewable thermal energy systems can increase the value of a home and enhance a business’s brand image by demonstrating environmental responsibility, which attracts customers and investors supportive of sustainable practices.
In summary, the advantages of supplying your own thermal energy include saving money, securing energy supply, reducing environmental impact, improving system reliability, and enhancing asset and brand value.
Pool Heating
A recent installation in Southern California raised pool temperatures to near 90 degrees F.
A home in Gloucester Massachusetts when owner switches from heating home to pool in Spring raises pool temperature 19 degrees in two weeks.
BIPV Thermal
Key points on expected thermal performance from BIPV plenum air systems include:
• BIPV systems convert about 6-18% of solar radiation to electricity, with roughly 70-80% of solar energy becoming heat. Extracting heat from the plenum can recover a significant portion of this thermal energy.
• Air-based BIPV plenum systems can increase overall energy utility by providing useful low-temperature heat during heating seasons, with typical outlet air temperatures elevated enough for ventilation preheating (e.g., 30°C or higher depending on solar conditions).
• Studies show thermal efficiencies of BIPV/T systems (integrated thermal and PV) around 30-40%, meaning 30-40% of the incident solar energy can be recovered as useful heat.
• A prototype BIPV system with 70% photovoltaic coverage in the plenum showed improved heat recovery and electricity performance, achieving combined thermal and electric energy benefits.
• The thermal output is influenced by design factors like plenum airflow, panel coverage ratio, orientation, ambient temperature, and solar irradiance.
In summary, from a BIPV plenum one can expect to recover low to moderate-grade thermal energy useful for heating ventilation air or domestic hot water, typically recovering about 30-40% of the incident solar energy as heat, with outlet air temperatures raised sufficiently for heating applications depending on the design and climate conditions
Best practices
extraction from a BIPV plenum focus on optimizing the thermal management of the photovoltaic panels to enhance heat recovery while maintaining or improving electrical performance. Key design strategies include:
• Efficient cooling of PV cells through the plenum by maintaining an appropriate airflow rate that maximizes heat transfer without causing excessive pressure drop.
• Using hybrid PV/thermal (PV/T) systems such as integrating heat mats or heat pipes behind the PV modules to actively extract thermal energy and reduce cell temperature, which can improve electrical efficiency by 10-20%.
• Designing the plenum geometry to maximize surface area contact and airflow uniformity, ensuring consistent heat extraction across the PV panel surface.
• Orientation and tilt optimization to balance solar exposure for electricity generation and thermal gain during heating seasons.
• Selecting materials and insulation for the plenum that minimize thermal losses and enhance heat transfer to the circulating air or fluid.
• Incorporating storage or direct use of the collected thermal energy, e.g., for domestic hot water or space heating, to effectively utilize the recovered heat.
• Monitoring and controlling thermal parameters to optimize both electrical and thermal outputs seasonally.
These practices, often used in combination, can improve overall system efficiency significantly—some systems report combined thermal and electrical efficiency above 70%, with thermal extraction helping keep operating temperatures lower and increasing PV output.
Our Newest Products
Using our SunSlates, TallSlates, or TallSlates Grandee, we can now extract the thermal from under them thus increasing their production plus supplying you with 3 to 4 times as much energy than the solar electricity from the thermal that we’ve extracted. With this thermal energy, you can heat the home the pool all with minimal natural gas or electricity. at the same time, we can make the solar electric production better by extracting heat that works against solar electric production.
The new system uses a 8 foot by 6 foot section on the roof That interlock with neighboring sections, the thermal PEX tube installed before the solar glass goes over the top this speeds up production. Contractor labor costs are minimized and You the customer gets the benefit.
Solar Contractors Wanted
Our previous product required certified training. Our new modular product can either be preinstalled on the roof with PEX tubes ready to to the TallSlates or TallSlates Grandee. Alternatively, the system can be prepared on the ground and craned into position on the roof.
Either way you will save labor cost and have a great looking Class A roof.
Give us a call and we will get you set up. East of Mississippi call Scott Benson (636) 626-8887
West call Joe Morrissey (916) 897-6876.
