Should you install solar panels on your roof? Ask Google

In 2015, Google launched Project Sunroof, a map that shows which houses have enough sun exposure for solar panels to be a viable energy source. However, the original map was very limited, covering only the San Francisco Bay Area, Fresno, California and Boston.

Now, Google has greatly expanded the project to cover all 50 U.S. states, with a total of 60 million buildings in the database. 

The project uses imagery from Google Earth and Maps as well as some machine learning magic to get a good idea of how much sunlight each portion of each roof is getting. According to Google, weather patterns, sun positioning changes and possible shade from nearby buildings is taken into account.  Read more...