Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Jan 22, 2016 2:23 pm This is a bit of a shameless plug on behalf of an acquaintance of mine, I hope ya'll don't mind. Their company has developed a composite roofing system that incorporates both solar PV and solar thermal (for domestic hot water, hydronic heating and pool heating). The roofing system is very aesthetically pleasing, and very strong. It solves a lot of the problems associated with installing a traditional metal or tile roof and then installing PV and thermal systems on the roof, such as waterproofing issues, wind rating issues, limiting future accessibility to the roof, and of course aesthetic value. http://tractile.com.au/ It is a premium product and therefore is probably best suited to bespoke architectural builds in the $600,000+ price range. Hopefully once they get more product in the market, price will come down and will be more within the reach of the average new home or retrofit. They also can provide battery and hot water storage solutions as part of the integrated solar roof. I am an engineer in the construction industry and have not seen a product that genuinely compares to this, and it ticks all the boxes for me. It has won several design awards, and has a number of references sites. They have recently floated an IPO on the Australian Stock Exchanges to raise capital to expend the business to mass market if anyone is interested in dabbling in the share market. I will be buying some myself. Building Services Engineer Renovating our 1960's modernist home in Brisbane https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=53&t=82091 Re: Tractile architectural integrated solar roofing system 3Jan 23, 2016 6:50 am Yes I agree Building Services Engineer Renovating our 1960's modernist home in Brisbane https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=53&t=82091 Re: Tractile architectural integrated solar roofing system 4Jan 23, 2016 8:36 am The one thing that normal solar panels do well though is shade that part of the roof that they cover. Seeing as they are normally placed on the Northern or Western side of a roof that is a big bonus in my book regarding summer temps. Stewie Re: Tractile architectural integrated solar roofing system 5Jan 23, 2016 5:38 pm Fair call stewie. The air gap between panels and a traditional roof has to be worth something... In saying that though the Tractile system has a very high R value compared to traditional metal or tile roofs. I believe it may be able to compare to a metal roof with insulation as a system in terms of R value. Also the solar thermal tile acts as a heat soak, absorbing the heat into the water/heating fluid rather than transferring to the ceiling cavity. As a plus, it also makes the photovoltaic component more efficient, again removing heat from the process. Re: Tractile architectural integrated solar roofing system 6Jan 23, 2016 6:39 pm It certainly sounds like a worthwhile product. I'll be interested to see some of the specs and how it relates cost wise and performance wise to say a standard sheet metal roof with solar panels over the top. Too often I've seen new products come onto the market being trumpeted as the next big thing only to find out after a few short years that it has been discontinued due to it being more expensive than everything else on the market for not much more gain in performance or installation costs are way more than normal. Stewie Re: Tractile architectural integrated solar roofing system 7Jan 23, 2016 7:20 pm It needs to be considered in context as a premium product. I don't see it as replacing the status quo, I see it as an addition to the market which gives affluent early adopters a neat, sustainable, high performance and architectural option. That being said it's not enormously more expensive than if you were to add up the material and labour costs of a traditional premium roof (such as the Monier flat profile roof tiles for example), plus a solar PV system and a solar hot water system. It makes sense once you consider the Tractile roofing system as an integrated part of the energy systems of a building, rather than just a roof. For example on a large aged care facility or hospital we could use the hot water for potable hot water as well as hydronic heating and also could be used an an absorption chiller for air conditioning. Building Services Engineer Renovating our 1960's modernist home in Brisbane https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=53&t=82091 2 2523 2 7742 I plan on installing an undercover walkway (awning ??) from my carport to the back door as shown in sketch. I will be using Boxspan Beams and have no concerns regarding… 0 752 |