Solar roofs

Smart roofs

All new structures should be built with solar roofs to maximize energy collection from the sun.

A Solar Roof (NRG Clean Power)

Building a simple gable or monoslope roof is cheaper than a complex hip roof offsetting the cost of adding the actual panels.

73 per cent of Australians support making solar a standard feature of all new and renovated homes, apartments and commercial buildings.

Dumb roofs

Most house roofs are designed to prevent large solar panel arrays from being fitted (UNSW)

Unfortunately architects and builders hate solar panels.

This is demonstrated by the continued insistence on using complex hip roofs and the interruption of the roof space with various pipes, skylights and air-con units that prevent efficient addition of solar panels.

Two thirds of new Australian houses are built with no solar panels at all forcing owners to try and retrofit panels on badly designed “solar hostile” roofs later.

Using the extra power

Firstly, the home owners can store the power in their own batteries or hot water system which are getting cheaper every year.

If not the extra power can be stored in the ever-growing number of big batteries or using pumped hydro like Snowy 2.

Mandating panels on new homes would create 2.7 gigawatts of clean electricity, equivalent to more than half of of Victoria’s coal-fired power plants.

Government action

Australia building codes should be changed to mandate smart solar roofs for almost all new free-standing buildings*. Given the low price of solar panels and the reduced cost of adding them at construction time, solar panels should cover the roofs of all new buildings.

Approximately 3kW of panel should be required per bedroom, kitchen or living room. Panels should face east, north or west.

Currently new houses need to have 7 Star energy efficiency but this does not require solar panels to be fitted to the roof or to have a roof that could accommodate solar panels later.

(*Excluding new houses built on small triangular blocks in the shade)

Building company action

A Fairhaven Homes design that could have effective East and West facing solar arrays.

Building companies should get “ahead of the game” by offering rectangular monoslope or gable-ended roofs on their buildings with solar panels fitted from the start.

At a minimum companies should offer “solar ready” roofs with large rectangular roof spaces facing east, north or west.

A bit more diagonal bracing would be needed to ensure the gable or monoslope roof was as strong as a hip roof, but the cost of this is trivial.