“The DOW POWERHOUSE Solar Shingle utilizes CIGS-based (Copper Indium Gallium diSelenide) thin-film photovoltaic cells, which have the highest efficiency of available thin-film technologies,” a representative for Dow told us. “This technology has enabled Dow’s breakthrough of a lightweight, durable residential solar application that installs like typical roofing materials. CIGS was also selected because it has a unique ability to perform well in non-standard conditions such as dappled shading, cloudy and diffused light.” --- One would ask what they have done about the problem of the access heat that occurs as soon as the cells go into optimal production as the sun's blaze will heat up the roof for sure. Do they have a cooling mechanism to keep them nice and cold ? If not why not ? can the access heat not be used to pre-heat the water ? Highest efficiency thin film is what, a typical 12% ? If you want solar go for the regular poly or mono panels and then keep a space on your roof for solar hot water generation...

Seems like I've been reading about this for decades.

Even if it is DOW, it seems like a good idea ... so is Dany's ... and why not use the hot water as part of a heat sink to circulate through a stone mass or floor to provide radiant heat for the home interior while we're at it ... put a real dent in utility monopoly!

Yes, it's not a new idea. I wonder how these things would stand up to the hail storms we in TX get every other spring or so.

@Dany: having done roof work, I know that a typical dark shingle (or roof) gets BLAZING hot already in the full sun. With bare hands, you'd get a first or second degree burn in the mid-afternoon. Roofs are required to have ridge vents or powered exhausts already, which work in conjunction with your eave vents to creat a cooling air draw through the attic space. What I see here does not seem to increase the heat into the attic any more than traditional dark shingle material.
Let me know if you read different...
Cheers, Doc

It sounds like they use a single inverter instead of microinverters. That would not appeal to me.

great combo!

Energy Conversion Devices (ENER - NASDAQ) has had these for years. They own the patent on NmH battery, among a bazillion other patents. They had a contract with, I think, Johns Manville, to produce just this very product. Where was your news release then? It had to have been 4 or 5 years ago. Still a great product. Too bad the company got leap-frogged on several things. They had (patented) a flexible, moldable flash drive material that could have made the case, or other parts, of any device, a memory drive. Your garage roof could be a solar-powered (massive) storage device. Anyway, it's old news...

@Matt Riggs.
Where I live we have 3 months of harsh summer and temperatures going up to 47 / 48 Ceslius. We basically have multi storey (Bricks and Mortar + RCC ) buildings. People living on the top floor are the worst affected. We use a simple solution to reduce the effect. We use white glazed ceramic tile chips to cover the roof. Prevents water leakage in monsoon and reflects most of the sun light and HEAT.

I wonder how much more useful energy could be generated if a layer of thermocouples were to be sandwiched between these and coils for a solar water heater, especially down here in southern Louisiana. I've been up on a dark-colored roof in the summer, and you can't even touch the shingles with bare skin without getting burned.