How Much Sunlight Does My Roof Get

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.

How much sunlight does my roof get. Easy to use tools allow you to construct your own scene and automatically plot the shadow results. Dark roofs absorb light up to 90 of solar energy and convert it to heat emitting it back into the atmosphere. Calculating the amount of sunlight. Multiply 5 hours of sunlight x 290 watts from a solar panel 1 450 watts or roughly 1 5 kilowatt hours per day.

Weather is also a factor. 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. So the kwh divided by the hours of sun equals the kw needed. 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.

States like californiaor floridacan expect more clear and sunny days. The number of peak sun hours you get per day increases the closer you are to the equator and typically during the summer months. Let s estimate you get about five hours per day to generate that 30 kwh you use. 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.

Learn more get an estimate and connect with providers. 6 but don t forget every house is different. Let s say on a good day you average 5 hours of direct sunlight. Green roofs on the other hand absorb sunlight and even put it to good use.

While your panels may receive an average 7 hours of daylight per day the average peak sun hoursmay actually be closer to 3 or 4. Solar radiation peaks at solar noon when the sun reaches the highest point in the sky. Google s project sunroof gives building by building details and now has data for parts of all 50. 4 how does that compare to your annual energy usage.

That s about 500 550 kilowatt hours of energy per year from each panel on your roof. Or 30 kwh 5 hours of sun 6 kw of ac output needed to cover 100 of your energy usage. You need a sunny roof to benefit from solar panels but yours may be sunnier than you think. How to calculate your peak sun hours.