One of twelve finalist entries in this year's Australian Design Award-Dyson Student Awards is Sebastian Braat's solar-powered roof tile, the "KISSTile".
The Keep It Simple Solar Tile has been designed specifically for Australian concrete tile roofs and provides both solar power and solar thermally heated water to grid connected homes.
According to Braat's entry notes, it is a "polycarbonate chassis into which is fitted a technical package consisting of solar cells, a heat exchanger, and associated electrical and water connectors."
Multiple KISSTiles can be integrated as roof cladding to create an array - the tiles are simply fitted onto new or existing tile roof structure with no modification required.
Homeowners can fit KISSTiles and make the tile-to-tile connections, only requiring a tradesman for the service connections.
The Australian Design Award-Dyson Student Awards initiative aims to recognise and reward the outstanding talent that exists amongst our future Australian designers. This year's 12 finalists were selected from 90 entrants by an international panel of experts in design and technology.
The winners will be announced on 19th May, 2006.
