During the President Barack Obama’s State of the Union Speech, which is delivered on Tuesday evening before a joint session of Congress, the President Obama mentioned solar shingles a lesser-known photovoltaic energy source that looks like regular roofing shingles but could power homes more cheaply than common solar power panels. The president stated that two American entrepreneurs have turned their obsolete factory into a facility for manufacturing solar shingles

Solar shingles are basically solar panels called as photovoltaic shingles. Solar shingles come in a number of designs and sizes. Solar shingles are designed to capture daylight and convert the light into power. Although, solar shingles with different designs have different requirements as to the placement of the shingles to produce energy, many brands of solar shingles can directly be placed to the roofing cloth. Some brands and complex designs of solar shingles require special installation efforts.

Solar Shingles are hailed as a better option among the other clean energy alternatives as they are cheaper than solar panels and are easier to install. At present, there are a number of companies that produce solar shingles. These companies include Atlantis Energy Systems, Solar Components Co., SunPower Co. and others.

Solar shingles aren’t cheap, and they are definitely more costly than asphalt tiles, but they are one of the technologies that could help fuel a cleaner tomorrow.

President Obama appears to be more future-oriented with his emphasis on solar shingles. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but they’re doing just fine on their own, instead of subsidizing yesterday’s energy, lets create those of tomorrow”, Obama said while talking about solar shingles and renewable energy.