Friday, September 09, 2016

The Solar Energy Potential of Your Home


Home owners in Northern Virginia can use a new interactive map from the Northern Virginia Regional Commission to determine the solar energy potential of their house. The map provides an assessment of the solar energy potential of building rooftops in the Northern Virginia region.

If you enter an address into the Northern Virginia Solar Map you can view an aerial view of your home overlaid with a thermal image overlay showing the potential for solar energy. If you click on a building on the map you can view details about the potential size of a solar PV array that can be placed on the roof and the potential electricity savings that you could make.


If you don't live in Northern Virginia you could try Google's Project Sunroof instead. This potential solar energy tool from Google also calculates how much sunlight your roof is likely to receive throughout the year. It can therefore help you make a more informed decision about whether you should install solar panels.

Enter an address into Project Sunroof and you can view an estimate of how many hours of sunlight your roof receives per year, the square feet you have available for solar panels and the estimated net savings you could make.

Project Sunroof currently works in nearly every U.S. state. If your state isn't on Project Sunroof yet it should be available in the coming months.

No comments: