Elon Tweeted:
2h2 hours ago
Elon Musk @elonmusk
Solar glass tiles can also incorporate heating elements, like rear defroster on a car, to clear roof of snow and keep generating energy
... and responded to a question that yes they could do this efficiently for significant net gains.
This is another interesting feature.
The first question that occurs to me though is could they then be used on the roof of the factory nearing completion near Buffalo NY? I think currently there are no plans to put PV on the roof of the gigafactory that makes the panels and tiles.
It did seem a shame that such a high profile use as the big flat roof of that plant wasn't going to be covered with PV cells as is intended with the Nevada battery gigafactory.
It's understandable that Buffalo has extraordinary snowfall from the lake effect but hey that's just an engineering challenge and if it can be solved in Buffalo it can be solved in most snowy places.
2h2 hours ago
Elon Musk @elonmusk
Solar glass tiles can also incorporate heating elements, like rear defroster on a car, to clear roof of snow and keep generating energy
... and responded to a question that yes they could do this efficiently for significant net gains.
This is another interesting feature.
The first question that occurs to me though is could they then be used on the roof of the factory nearing completion near Buffalo NY? I think currently there are no plans to put PV on the roof of the gigafactory that makes the panels and tiles.
It did seem a shame that such a high profile use as the big flat roof of that plant wasn't going to be covered with PV cells as is intended with the Nevada battery gigafactory.
It's understandable that Buffalo has extraordinary snowfall from the lake effect but hey that's just an engineering challenge and if it can be solved in Buffalo it can be solved in most snowy places.