ProjectSunroof
Latest
Google is helping Germans go solar
Google's Project Sunroof is a way of combining the company's mapping data with information on how much sunlight hits your home. With it, people can work out if their abode gets enough radiation for them to consider investing in solar panels. Until now, the service was limited to the US but, from today, the system is rolling out to Germans similarly curious about adopting renewables.
Google: 4 out of 5 US homes have solar power potential
A five kilowatt rooftop solar installation now costs just $12,500 on average after tax credits, and pretty soon, installing one might soon be a matter of re-tiling your roof. Whether it's right for you, however, depends in large part on how much sun your house gets. That's where Google's Project Sunroof comes in -- launched just two years ago, it has now surveyed over 60 million US buildings in 50 states. That means there's a good chance you can see the electricity production potential in your city, neighborhood and even specific house.
Inhabitat's Week in Green: A VW bug made out of timber
Six years ago a Beijing company proposed an insane lane-straddling bus that could soar over congested freeways. The project just took a step closer to reality, as the Transit Explore Bus is set to begin testing this summer. In other transportation news, Airbus just unveiled the world's first 3D-printed motorcycle, which has a range of 37 miles and a top speed of 50 mph. Hyperloop Transportation Technologies announced plans to build transit pods from Vibranium, which takes its name from the fictional metal used to create Captain America's indestructible shield. A Bosnian retiree handcrafted a gorgeous VW bug exterior from over 50,000 pieces of oak. Vanmoof launched the SmartBike -- a next-gen cycle that is virtually impossible to steal -- and Google partnered with Levi's to create a smart jacket for urban cyclists.
Google's Project Sunroof can assess homes in more states
Solar panels are a huge investment, so something like Project Sunroof that can tell you if they're a good fit for your location is extremely useful. The good news is, the initiative is expanding to more locations across the US. Now, if you have a house in select metro areas in Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Nevada and North Carolina, you can try plugging in your address on the tool and check if it covers your location. If it does, you'll get an assessment of how many hours of usable sunlight you can get per year, how much of your roofspace can can be covered by solar panels and how much money you can save by getting a solar installation.
Google's making it easy for you to get solar panels onto your roof
Adding solar panels to your roof can be frustrating, since it's often difficult to know if your home receives enough light to justify the investment. Google Maps, however, has satellite, navigation and sunlight data for every property in the world, so it's ideally placed to tell you how many rays hit your crib on a daily basis. That's why the firm is launching Sunroof, a database of how much solar energy hits each building in a city, helping people work out if it's worth the effort. Sunroof is intended as a "treasure map" for future green energy projects, telling you how much of a saving you'd make and how long it'd take to make back your initial outlay.
