Founded at the MIT Sloan School of Management, Sistine creates custom solar panels designed to mimic home facades and other environments, with aims of enticing more homeowners to install photovoltaic systems.
Sistine’s novel technology, SolarSkin, is a layer that can be imprinted with any image and embedded into a solar panel without interfering with the panel’s efficacy. Homeowners can match their rooftop or a grassy lawn.
— MIT News
The product caters to the growing "aesthetic solar" market which tries to attract homeowners that are considering going solar but fear the aesthetic impact of the traditional, bleak-looking dark solar panels on their home's appearance. Just last fall, Tesla CEO Elon Musk revealed a line of glass, photovoltaic cell-embedded roof tiles that mimic (currently) four common roof covering styles.
Here a few more examples of Sistine's SolarSkin technology that allows—so the company claims—the panels to either completely blend in with the existing roof or display any desired image, like business logos or advertisements.
All images via Sistine Solar's website.
No.
The way I'm looking at it is the construction methods are modern and it's almost certain that there is no consideration of vernacular beyond styling. Seem to me that they're already trying to be something they are not.
But fair enough.
And I'm guessing Donna's is putting in the definitive vote.
I always assumed people who own McMansions put up panels to appear better than their neighbours. How are they to know now that they are hidden?
Non Seq, that is an *excellent* point. If you can't be self-righteously green why be green at all, right?
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Not really an improvement, traditional solar panels aren't any uglier than this stuff, keep trying MIT, maybe look at Elon's tiles?
https://www.tesla.com/solar
What we will not do for our fake aesthetic cleanliness and anything that doesn't match our reality tv guided lives in decorated dreams!? A major win for suburbian real estate sense. The last hurdle for solar paneling is solved!
I'd argue that success is not about making the most beautiful solar panel, but about making a solar panel that the people with the worst taste will still buy.
By that metric, this might find some mainstream success.
Chris- faux mo?
I was deferring to you, but a McMansion trying to maintain the covenants while offsetting the electric bill?
Faux(st) modern.
No.
The way I'm looking at it is the construction methods are modern and it's almost certain that there is no consideration of vernacular beyond styling. Seem to me that they're already trying to be something they are not.
But fair enough.
And I'm guessing Donna's is putting in the definitive vote.
Darn, no fun.
Imagine each of those photos taken from 15 degrees to either direction.
I seen't you tweeting about this...
But yes- ew.
This system allows creative approaches that may overcome some of the above objections.
I plan on contacting them as their 'product' approach may help our BIPV roof tiles blend-in the solar portion of our tiles. There are also other approaches, such as polychromatic glass, or just colored glass we are looking at.
I always assumed people who own McMansions put up panels to appear better than their neighbours. How are they to know now that they are hidden?
Non Seq, that is an *excellent* point. If you can't be self-righteously green why be green at all, right?
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