Homebuilder D.R. Horton Becomes First-in-the-Nation to Offer New Power-Generating Roof ARVADA, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The roof of a home has always had the critical job of protecting families from the elements. Today, for the first time, a new commercially-available solar roofing shingle has entered the U.S. housing market that not only protects from the elements, but uses one of those elements — sunlight — to turn the typical American home into a dynamic power generator. The POWERHOUSE™ Solar Shingle roofing system protects the home like a standard roofing shingle while providing energy that powers the home and saves the homeowner money. The three-part solar roofing system package includes an array of shingles, an inverter and an energy monitoring system. The shingles, custom designed to fit the individual homeowners’ budget and energy goals, are arranged to complement the style and form of the home and roofline. The inverter then converts Direct Current (DC) produced from the shingles into Alternating Current (AC), which is then fed to the home’s appliances, or back to the power grid. Finally, a real-time monitoring system provides readouts to homeowners to assess energy usage, production and the amount of excess power flowing back to the grid. The great look of the integrated POWERHOUSE™ Solar Shingle solution now serves the needs of homeowners who want to go solar, but dislike the aesthetic of bulky, rack-mounted systems. The POWERHOUSE™ Solar Shingle is Made in the USA at Dow’s small-scale manufacturing facility in Midland, Michigan. Dow has also begun construction of a new, large-scale facility at Dow’s Midland, Michigan Operations site, which the Company expects will create up to 1,275 jobs between now and 2015. POWERHOUSE ™ has the safety backing of Underwriters Laboratories (UL), is backed by Dow and a warranty, and can withstand rain, hail and wind.
