Google Knows Your Roof's Solar Potential

bloggs.fredbloggs.fred · 2015-08-21T16:28:51+00:00

"Adding to the growing list of things Google knows about us is whether our homes and businesses could benefit from the addition of solar panels. Annou nced yesterday, the company's Project Sunroof combines aerial 3D models fro m Google Maps, historical weather data, the cost of utilities, and the valu e of local incentives to gauge whether covering a rooftop with photovoltaic s (PVs) would result in energy-cost savings." "Users plug in their address and how much they typically spend on electrici ty. The app, in turn, shares a recommended solar installation size in squar e feet and kilowatts. It also offers information on purchasing or leasing t he panels, as well as taking out a loan to cover the installation expenses, and the projected payback period in energy-cost savings. Finally, the app connects homeowners with local installers to do the work--along with, we ho pe, a tried-and-true site evaluation--of getting the PVs on the roof."

Aug 21, 2015 22 Replies

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bloggs.fredbloggs.fred 11 years ago

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I think she was computing the payback time for switching to solar thermal v ersus staying with electric. And there's no reason why you can't pipe the s olar heated water into an electric water heater. Most thermal hot water sys tems use two tanks anyway- some of them are VERY expensive, using "stone" a s a thermal storage mass. As you pointed out in your case the monthly is so small, payback time exceeds the lifetime of the equipment.

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rickman 11 years ago

For me. Others spend a lot more on hot water. My understanding is that the solar hot water is the most effective alternative energy investment. I've never looked at the numbers. Certainly at one time it was a

*lot* cheaper than solar cells and works pretty well even on overcast days. I don't know just how low the price of PV has gotten, so with the electric company buying your power PV may be getting close to the ROI of solar hot water.

Rick

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