“The LUMA Story”
A Product Made By Roofers, For Roofers
                                   
It’s only a matter of time before solar applications will revolutionize the roofing industry, and the sooner roofing contractors see the light, the better off they’ll be.  That’s the thinking at LUMA Resources LLC, a newly formed sister company of Allen Brothers Inc., a multifaceted roofing contractor located in Rochester Hills, Michigan.  LUMA Resources LLC was formed in 2007 to market the company’s recent breakthrough, a solar roof kit designed for residential applications and able to be sold direct.  

LUMA Resources just recently won FIRST PLACE for BEST NEW PRODUCT by industry peers at the roofing industry’s largest trade show, the International Roofing Expo in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Over the last 22 years Allen Brothers Inc. (A.B.I.) has built a reputation for unique and difficult sheet metalwork.  The Allen brothers agree that it was all those difficult jobs and their “figure it out and get it done” mentality that enabled them to seize this new opportunity in solar roofing.  They also hope that their new product will help other roofing contractors and home builders enter the world of solar energy. 

The patented solar roof kit system is the brainchild of Gary Allen.  With his years of experience, Gary was able to see the perfect way to marry a solar system compatible with any residential roofing shingle. “It fits with any cement or clay tile, asphalt shingle, cedar shakes and shingles, slate – anything,” says Gary Allen.

“All of the solar applications I had seen were vertical, designed to work with standing seam roofs,” said Gary Allen. “But that wouldn’t work in most residential roofs, where almost all of the systems are set up with horizontal lines.  I immediately visualized it as a horizontal application on metal panels, with room for the wires to run underneath.  The rest of the system and its components were designed over time, along with the method of terminating the sides of the kit.”

The current solar kit uses thin-film photovoltaic (PV) solar cell technology, but can also be adapted to fit other kinds of solar collectors.  LUMA Resources standard solar kit is designed to generate 1,860-watt of domestic electric per moment. The roof kit consists of 60 solar shingles, the inverter, and all of the flashing and components needed to put the system together.  Each metal shingle is 51 1/8 inches long and 15 5/8 inches wide, and the shingles can be installed in one of two configurations: 10 rows of six shingles or 12 rows of five shingles.

The kit should be located on one side of the roof and installed in one piece, but it can be placed virtually anywhere on the roof — in the middle of the roof field, or terminating at the eaves, ridge, or at the side of the roof.

Each interlocking panel has a splice plate and wiring with quick-connectors at each end.  The result is just one lead that carries the DC power, which can be dropped into the attic or routed down the side of the house for connection to the inverter. “The electrician has to take it from there and hook up the DC leads to the inverter,” said Robert Allen.  “The system is perfect for new construction and re-roofing applications as well.”

Gary and Robert Allen enlisted the help of Dr. Richard Blieden as a consultant to help them penetrate the market.  Blieden, formerly the director of government and international sales at United Solar Ovonic, has worked in the field of alternative energy technology for over 30 years. He organized and directed the first USA National Program for Terrestrial Applications of Photovoltaic Technology at the National Science Foundation, and he directed the Office of Solar Electric Applications at the U.S. Energy Research and Development Administration.  After a lifetime of pioneering work in the field of solar energy, he believes solar applications are poised for exponential growth.
“The roofs of the future are going to have solar,” said Blieden. “The energy situation is critical enough that the investment will be made in solar applications, and that means opportunity for those in the roofing industry.”

“This residential solar kit is something that’s from within the industry,” he continued. “Solar has been a missed opportunity because no one had an easy solution. This is an excellent solution, in part because it’s so easy to install,” says Dr. Blieden.

Allen Brothers Inc. was originally founded by Don Allen back in 1950 under the name of Allen Roofing.  Under Don’s leadership the company quickly became known as one of the best custom residential roofing companies in the area. When Don retired, his sons changed the company’s name to Allen Brothers Inc. in 1986 and started doing more commercial and sheet metal roofing jobs.

To read more about LUMA Resources, please click here.