Thinking Solar?

Into Solar? Your Social Media Friends Will Soon Know

If you’re planning to install solar panels on your roof, your friends will soon know, thanks to Google’s “Project Sunroof.”

As Google explains, Project Sunroof is a free online solar calculator that helps you map the potential savings from converting your roof to solar.   Its objective: to map earth’s solar potential “one roof at a time.”
Panels that absorb the sun’s energy and convert it to heat or electricity are covering rooftops around the globe, encouraged by any number of factors including financial (solar energy can be a cost-effective way to generate electricity) and now peer pressure.

The newest addition to Project Sunroof shows a red dot on homes that appear to have solar panels.
According to Robinson Meyer in a recent CityLab post, it “will now not only inform users how much sun hits their roof, or how much solar panels would save them per month, but also which of their neighbors have taken the plunge first.”  
Why is that important? Writes Meyer, “One of the best predictors of whether people install solar panels on their house isn’t their age, their race, their level of income, or their political affiliation … It’s whether their neighbors did it first.”

According to The Department of Energy there is only 2 years left to receive a 30% Tax rebate on solar installation cost.  The rebate are slated to end in 2022.  The average return on investment varies from size of job and location in the USA but the country average of 7.5 years.

Google is hoping take-up numbers will be driven by the desire to be the first in one’s social media network to hop on the new bandwagon.   That could swell as more “influencers” opt to participate and bring their followers along. 
So check out Project Sunroof, install, and just wait for the online accolades.