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Google's Project Sunroof

Ekin
By Ekin
in Tech News
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7TqhHcX.png

 
Google introduced Project Sunroof, an easy way to test if your roof is suitable for solar panels.
 

Project Sunroof uses information that’s in Google Maps to figure out how much sun falls on a roof and takes into account stuff like the angle of the roof, the weather, and obstructions like trees and chimneys. Then it uses those measurements to figure out how many panels you’d probably need and how much you could save on your electric bill, including solar incentives in your area. You can see how buying or leasing panels affects your savings, and then send your estimate to installers in your area, instantly.

 
It is currently only available in the following cities: San Francisco Bay Area, Fresno CA and Greater Boston MA.
 

 


 Source: http://www.google.com/sunroof
 
I think it is a great way to get an idea about how effective the solar panels would be on your roof and hope that it will also come available in other places around the world.
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Cool, Interesting, useful; nuff said. :P

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neat-spiderman.gif

 

I just might try this if my area gets support for it. Or I might forget about it because so many of google's projects never go anywhere....

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It's neat but I am still skeptical about solar power.

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It's neat but I am still skeptical about solar power.

Don't believe it exists? :D Really. How come?

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i actually calculated this

electricity where i am is extremely cheap

it will take me 11 years in today's prices to get the money back 

If your grave doesn't say "rest in peace" on it You are automatically drafted into the skeleton war.

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yes i know, the sun only shines for part of the day. So what do you do at night?

For me it's: upfront cost, yearly maintenance cost, power output, duration until they paid for themselves.

Bottom line is if it takes 15 years for the panels to pay for themselves and their useful life is only 10 years, I'll never recoup the cost and ultimately will lose money. I have not looked deeply into it as I don't even have my own house but I also feel that solar still has some ways to go before they are efficient enough to be placed on new house construction.

CM Storm Switch Tester MOD (In-Progress) - http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/409147-cm-storm-switch-tester-macro-mod/


       Ammo Can Speaker 02 (Completed) - http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/283826-ammo-can-speakers-02/       A/B Switch V 0.5 (Completed) - http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/362417-ab-switch-v0


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For me it's: upfront cost, yearly maintenance cost, power output, duration until they paid for themselves.

Bottom line is if it takes 15 years for the panels to pay for themselves and their useful life is only 10 years, I'll never recoup the cost and ultimately will lose money. I have not looked deeply into it as I don't even have my own house but I also feel that solar still has some ways to go before they are efficient enough to be placed on new house construction.

my uncle has solar panels for his mountain cabin...

since its the only way to get electricity up there. He did do some math though..

 

in theory, if this was back at his house, they wouldv'e paid themselves back in 8 years.

 

Maintenance is basically, clean them and clear snow/mud/stuff from them.

 

power output can be big. again, the little panel (size of a small coffee table) my uncle has is enough to power a 2300w electric saw and drill.... His system is charging a DC 4000AH GEL battery with a DC to AC converter.

 

Solar has come a long way and keeps evolving

Current setup

Images of setup: http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/183-show-off-your-setup/?p=5872590

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That engineer didn't want to deal with his mother calling him and asking questions about solar stuff, so he made the entire company, Google, do it for him.

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Wouldn't this fall under alphabet not Google?

Why? Alphabet is only the parent company hear which owns the different main areas. This is a software project that uses Google's data collection in order to provide a service for easy solar power installation; It needs to be in the software and data  department, Google.

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The link gives me a 404.

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Source link is dead. Wonder what's up with that...

It's back up.

"It pays to keep an open mind, but not so open your brain falls out." - Carl Sagan.

"I can explain it to you, but I can't understand it for you" - Edward I. Koch

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It's back up.

Not for me.

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Not for me.

Works for me.

post-7355-0-16516900-1439849045_thumb.jp

post-7355-0-16516900-1439849045_thumb.jp

"It pays to keep an open mind, but not so open your brain falls out." - Carl Sagan.

"I can explain it to you, but I can't understand it for you" - Edward I. Koch

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  • Author

Not for me.

I have updated the link, the old one worked always fine for me. Maybe now it is working.

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Google legit has the coolest ideas for projects.

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At least we know Google will do some calculations to see if it's worth putting solar panels on certain places, unlike those frauds at Solar Freaking Roadways.

The stars died for you to be here today.

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For me it's: upfront cost, yearly maintenance cost, power output, duration until they paid for themselves.

Bottom line is if it takes 15 years for the panels to pay for themselves and their useful life is only 10 years, I'll never recoup the cost and ultimately will lose money. I have not looked deeply into it as I don't even have my own house but I also feel that solar still has some ways to go before they are efficient enough to be placed on new house construction.

Efficiency is rising and prices are dropping relatively fast. Same goes for batteries, which you can use to power your house when the Sun is not shining. Solar panels are definitely not worth it now, unless you are a mindless environmentalist, but they will be in the future.

MacBook Pro 15' 2018 (Pretty much the only system I use)

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Efficiency is rising and prices are dropping relatively fast. Same goes for batteries, which you can use to power your house when the Sun is not shining. Solar panels are definitely not worth it now, unless you are a mindless environmentalist, but they will be in the future.

i know battery tech is moving in a good direction. I would assume with elon musk and his giga factory, that lithium batteries will drop in price and the tech behind them will also develop much faster. unless of course he is just planning on making the replacement batteries for all his cars. i know a bit more than what i am merely saying. 

CM Storm Switch Tester MOD (In-Progress) - http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/409147-cm-storm-switch-tester-macro-mod/


       Ammo Can Speaker 02 (Completed) - http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/283826-ammo-can-speakers-02/       A/B Switch V 0.5 (Completed) - http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/362417-ab-switch-v0


     Build 01 - The Life of a Prodigy -  http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/13103-build-01-the-life-of-a-prodigy/             Build 02 - Silent Server 3000 - http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/116670-build-02-silent-server-3000/

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Google is always doing this crazy expensive,awesome stuff, microsoft on the other hand, pretends to be NSA.

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