Happy Earth Day everybody.
Alerted to this from the formidable C Jake:
Los Angeles County officials today unveiled a solar
mapping program that will allow homeowners and businesses to go online
to determine if their properties are good candidates for solar power.
The program uses roof size, pitch and shading from nearby
trees, buildings and mountains to provide a building’s solar potential
and the potential value of installing solar panels.
By typing in an address, a person will learn the
property’s roof size, area suitable for solar panels, electricity
produced, electricity savings, carbon reduction, nearby solar
installations and case studies, available rebates from utility
companies, and information about installers.
The level of detail provided means that residents and
solar installers do not need to go up on every roof to see if it can
support solar, saving time and money. Solar installers will be able to
give more detailed estimates based on specific situations, but the
solar portal provides generally accurate guidelines of what can be
expected. The ultimate goal is to make the website a one-stop solar
shop for residents and businesses.
Supervisors Mark Ridley-Thomas and Zev Yaroslavsky praised
the project, saying it will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and
energy costs.
The new website -- available at solarmap.lacounty.gov
– went live today and will be featured Wednesday – Earth Day – at the
National Conversation on Climate Action all-day conference in Los
Angeles, which is part of a national effort to fight global warming.
It is the largest solar map in terms of geographic area in
the world, covering 3,000 square miles, said Acting Chief Information
Officer Richard Sanchez, whose department developed the site in
conjunction with the Internal Services Department.
The solar website, developed at a cost of $93,500, was
generated from high-resolution imagery and elevation information
acquired in 2006 which included roof-top and ground elevation every
five feet. It calculates and ranks incoming solar radiation every 25
square feet, using roof pitch, orientation, and shading from
surrounding structures and trees to provide the best estimate possible.
The project will be of great benefit to the County itself,
said Internal Services Director Tom Tindall, as it includes high
resolution - three-dimensional modeling of 800 County buildings. These
detailed analyses will be used to evaluate and implement cost-effective
installations, including solar power and solar water heaters.
The County is a major electricity user, with facilities
spread over a wide geography, operating in more than 3,000 buildings
that comprise more than 60 million square feet, so the mapping project
will save countless hours developing initial estimates and prioritizing
projects manually, said Tindall.
It will do the same for other building managers throughout
the County, said Yaroslavsky, who authored the 2008 motion to develop
“green building” ordinances for the County’s unincorporated areas to
lower utility rates and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Buildings account for 65 percent of electricity
consumption and 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the United
States, according to the U.S. Green Building Council. Energy
consumption can be reduced by as much as 20 percent by the use of
energy-efficient measures in existing buildings.
The County is developing a program that would assist
homeowners and businesses in financing solar panels. On April 14 the
Board of Supervisors approved Supervisor Ridley-Thomas’ motion to
create by July a program that would allow property owners to finance
energy-efficiency upgrades by borrowing money from the County and
paying it back through their property tax bills.
