Lumeta Makes Peel-and-Stick Solar Panel

Solar rooftop installations just got a lot easier: Lumeta, a subsidiary of construction heavyweight DRI, has developed a solar panel sticker -- the Power-Ply 380. The company says its convenient peel-and-stick solar technology allows it to be installed almost twice as fast as regular rack-mounted panels -- a claim put to the test in the above video.

The panels are half as heavy as concrete roofing tiles and can be tailored to fit on most tile designs -- concrete, clay, profile and flat (added bonus: they come in a variety of colors). As Wired Science's Alexis Madrigal notes, the Power-Ply's main downside is that it loses the sun's optimal angle, thus making the peel-and-stick panels less efficient than some of its alternatives.

That energy loss amounts to around 5% of the panels' power production. According to its promotional datasheet, its panels can each produce 380 Wp of power under peak performance conditions. Lumeta is hoping to ride on a wave of growing consumer interest in solar panels -- particularly new homeowners looking to invest in energy-efficient technologies for the long run.

Lumeta Makes Peel-and-Stick Solar Panel Installations a Breeze : TreeHugger