Project Sunroof calculates solar energy potential of US homes
Project Sunroof has used Google Maps and Google Earth to work out how much solar energy could be produced using industry standard models on US cities' rooftops. Launched in 2015, the project, which has analysed 60 million homes, found that 79% of all American rooftops are suitable for solar panels, a figure that rises to 90% in Hawaii, Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico. The city with the most solar potential was Houston, Texas, with an estimated 18,940 GWh of total rooftop solar generation potential per annum. One GWh of energy is enough to supply power to 90 homes for a year.
Solar power is an abundant, low carbon source of electricity, but historically it has been more expensive than traditional electricity. With solar costs dropping dramatically, many people are starting to ask: does solar power make sense on my rooftop? In my town or state? Since its initial launch in 2015, Project Sunroof has used imagery from Google Maps and Google Earth, 3D modeling and machine learning to help answer those questions accurately and at scale. For every building included in the data, Project Sunroof calculates the amount of sunlight received by each portion of the roof over the course of a year, taking into account weather patterns, position of the sun in the sky at different times of year, and shade from nearby obstructions like trees and tall buildings. Finally, the estimated sunlight is translated into energy production using industry standard models for solar installation performance.