By Kiwiana Ngabung – EMTV Online, Port Moresby
Google wants to help you come up with the best solutions for setting up solar panels on your home rooftop, and save money on electricity bills.
The new project, dubbed as Project Sunroof, is Google’s latest project that calculates your home’s potential in solar energy usage and recommends panels you should use.
To find out how Google can help, simply search your home address.
Once you hit the search button, Project Sunroof collates information already in Google Maps and calculates the best solar plan for you.
A few points they provide are:
• How much sunlight hits your roof
• The kind of panels to install (based on roof size)
• Computing how much money you’ll save on electricity bills
When calculating how much sunlight hits your roof, they provide a 3D model of your roof based on the aerial imagery with predictions of sun positions over the course of a year, shadows cast by trees and/or nearby structures and cloud and temperature patterns (based on history) that can affect energy production.
As a bonus, Google gives a financing plan and suggests nearby outlets for solar panel purchase and installation.
Currently, Project Sunroof works only in Boston, San Francisco Bay area and Fresno; they are hoping to expand to all parts of the United States and eventually go global.
