How Much Sunlight Does My Roof Get

Enter a state county city or zip code to see a solar estimate for the area based on the amount of usable sunlight and roof space.

How much sunlight does my roof get.

Green roofs on the other hand absorb sunlight and even put it to good use. Multiply 5 hours of sunlight x 290 watts from a solar panel 1 450 watts or roughly 1 5 kilowatt hours per day. 4 how does that compare to your annual energy usage. Understanding how much sunlight falls on a home s roof can help a homeowner make decisions about roofing materials insulation and the placement of solar panels.

Solar radiation peaks at solar noon when the sun reaches the highest point in the sky. The number of peak sun hours you get per day increases the closer you are to the equator and typically during the summer months. Our solar technicians will help determine both your summer and winter exposures to figure out if you get enough power from the sun to energize your home. Although your panels may get an average of 7 hours of daylight a day the average peak sun hours are generally around 4 or 5.

Learn more get an estimate and connect with providers. Google s project sunroof gives building by building details and now has data for parts of all 50. Let s say on a good day you average 5 hours of direct sunlight. The us ranges from about 4 hours 6 hours of sunlight per day on average see the below map.

How to calculate your peak sun hours. You need a sunny roof to benefit from solar panels but yours may be sunnier than you think. Easy to use tools allow you to construct your own scene and automatically plot the shadow results. Let s estimate you get about five hours per day to generate that 30 kwh you use.

So the kwh divided by the hours of sun equals the kw needed. Or 30 kwh 5 hours of sun 6 kw of ac output needed to cover 100 of your energy usage. That s about 500 550 kilowatt hours of energy per year from each panel on your roof. States like californiaor floridacan expect more clear and sunny days.

White ones absorb much less light by reflecting the light without transferring it into heat. Dark roofs absorb light up to 90 of solar energy and convert it to heat emitting it back into the atmosphere. 6 but don t forget every house is different. Weather is also a factor.