If you've been shopping for a new home, or simply enjoy looking at model homes in and around your community, then you may be impressed with modern floor plans, materials, and energy-efficient features, like windows and appliances. So what can you expect to see next?

At the recent Pacific Coast Builders Conference, known by just PCBC to those in the industry, more than 600 companies exhibited the latest in home building wares and services. Nearly 24,000 builders, developers, architects, sales and marketing types, designers, and others in the home building industry attended the show, held annually in San Francisco.

And a random selection of 500 registered attendees voted online to pinpoint the "cool products." Making the top of the list is a solar-powered roofing tile called Sunslates, produced by Atlantis Energy Systems, Inc. What makes this product so cool, they say, is that the roof tiles actually capture the sun's rays and generate electricity for the house. Homeowners can even sell power to the utility company during the scorching summer months.

Steve Coonen, vice president of Atlantis Energy, told California Builder magazine the tiles work like the more traditional solar power systems that are spread over an existing roof.

"We just found a way to put it in a roof tile. The wiring, etc., is the same," Coonen said.

Atlantis, which is based in Sacramento, Calif., is working with a growing number of developers around the state, including U.S. Home, to include the new PV tiles.

Kevin Slagle, a spokesman for the homebuilder, said the solar systems would be standard equipment in the new homes.

"Energy is a top issue. People are always asking, how can you build more houses when you don't have enough energy today," Slagle said.

Meanwhile, other things to keep in mind as you look for new homes this year:

Published: August 6, 2002

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