New, Award-winning Roof Tile Design Takes The Ugly Out Of Rooftop Solar Energy

    PHILADELPHIA, PA, September 06, 2008 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Bresslergroup , a product design and development firm, announced today that its design for client SRS Energy was awarded an International Design Excellence Award (IDEA), the 14th IDEA award this firm has received in its 37 year history. The prestigious IDEA award is co-sponsored by the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) and Businessweek magazine.

The SRS product is an aesthetically integrated solar roof that generates electricity while looking and performing like a premium tile roof. Until now, cost, appearance and installation complexity raised high barriers to broad consumer acceptance of photovoltaic (PV) or solar energy. The SRS Energy design is breakthrough because the PV technology is embedded in the tiles. Simple "plug and play" components transfer the electricity from the roof to the house. What's visible to the eye is a beautiful, curved tile roof that is literally fuelling the house. The patent pending SRS system enables homeowners to generate their own energy and resell extra electricity to their utility.
"Aesthetics is the big message" says designer Peter Bressler, who was inspired to create the SRS Energy tile after flying over some homes with large, awkward solar panels, perched atop their roofs. "People today want to pull away from fossil fuels. The SRS tile roof provides the consumer with a pride of ownership for good looks and good works -- recognizing the contribution they are making to reduce global warming, energy costs and oil dependency." The U.S. and the world have billions of square feet of residential roof space in latitudes that can support effective electricity generation, if fitted with PV materials.

Bresslergroup won the IDEA silver award in the concept category. Currently, SRS Energy tiles are installed for beta testing on buildings in suburban Philadelphia and SRS plans a market launch in 2009. Designed for easy installation, one roofer commented that it would take only a half hour to train people to install the roof and that the tiles are actually easier to install than a ceramic tile roof because they are lighter and don't break. For more information about SRS Energy and Bresslergroup's other award-winning product design work, please visit www.bresslergroup.com.

Bresslergroup www.bresslergroup.com creates innovative new product solutions via integrated user research, product design and engineering services. For further information, please contact Mike Flanagan at (215) 209 3046.

# # #