Deciding how much you can save on projects if you opt for solar energy is getting easier and easier. Primarily aimed at homeowners and single-family residential developers, but also useful for commercial properties, a team of Google engineers launched a new tool that can help the doubtful better understand if they will be able to bring big savings if they convert to solar energy.
Titled Project Sunroof, the tool offers high-resolution aerial maps, like the one used in Google Earth, to estimate the total sunlight a rooftop receives throughout the year, CityLab reports.
Users can then learn how much they can expect to save with solar panels, and even evaluate different financing plans.
One such application already on the market is the MIT-born MapDwell, which launched two years ago. Architizer reports that MapDwell has announced the expansion of the service into New York City’s Five Boroughs.
“This tremendous project covers over one million buildings and reveals enough high-yield photovoltaic potential to deliver over five million megawatt-hours of energy per year,” Architizer reports.
Related Stories
| Jun 8, 2012
Thornton Tomasetti/Fore Solutions provides consulting for renovation at Tufts School of Dental Medicine
Project receives LEED Gold certification.
| Jun 7, 2012
Stantec publishes 2011 corporate Sustainability Report
Stantec's fifth annual Sustainability Report was prepared in accordance with the internationally recognized G3.1 Sustainability Reporting Guidelines, developed by the Global Reporting Initiative.
| Jun 6, 2012
SOM urges Chicago tenants to partner with landlords to cut energy use
Tenants can exceed building energy challenge targets recently announced by Mayor Emanuel.
| Jun 1, 2012
New BD+C University Course on Insulated Metal Panels available
By completing this course, you earn 1.0 HSW/SD AIA Learning Units.
| Jun 1, 2012
AIA 2030 Commitment Program reports new results
The full report contains participating firm demographics, energy reduction initiatives undertaken by firms, anecdotal accounts, and lessons learned.
| May 31, 2012
AIA Course: High-Efficiency Plumbing Systems for Commercial and Institutional Buildings
Earn 1.0 AIA/CES learning units by studying this article and successfully completing the online exam.
| May 31, 2012
2011 Reconstruction Awards Profile: Ka Makani Community Center
An abandoned historic structure gains a new life as the focal point of a legendary military district in Hawaii.
| May 31, 2012
5 military construction trends
Defense spending may be down somewhat, but there’s still plenty of project dollars out there if you know where to look.
| May 30, 2012
Construction milestone reached for $1B expansion of San Diego International Airport
Components of the $9-million structural concrete construction phase included a 700-foot-long, below-grade baggage-handling tunnel; metal decks covered in poured-in-place concrete; slab-on-grade for the new terminal; and 10 exterior architectural columns––each 56-feet tall and erected at a 14-degree angle.
| May 29, 2012
Torrance Memorial Medical Center’s pediatric burn patients create their version of new Patient Tower using Legos
McCarthy workers joined the patients, donning construction gear and hard hats, to help with their building efforts.
