The market for domestic solar panels has exploded in the past few years, with a huge array of companies providing a multitude of design and financing options for those looking to lower their utility bills and do their bit for the environment. Regardless of how much assurance companies can offer for the feasibility of their schemes, there are many solar-tentative homeowners who remain unconvinced of their effectiveness and profitability. Technological multi-national Google thinks it has the answer, with their latest tool; which with a few clicks allows people to investigate themselves whether solar panels would be worthwhile investments for their properties.
This tool is ‘Project Sunroof’, which utilises satellite imagery from their Google Earth programme as well as other data, such as roof orientations, weather patterns and predicted shade amounts to build a picture of how effective solar panels would be at specified addresses. It calculates the generation potential of the panels, the impact the panels would have on household bills and even recommends installers for that part of the country.
At present, the service is only available within a chosen few American states – but Google has intentions to expand the area covered by the service in the coming months.