How Much Sunlight Does My Roof Get

White ones absorb much less light by reflecting the light without transferring it into heat.

How much sunlight does my roof get.

A rough estimate is that sun should hit your roof between 9am and 3pm to to meet your energy needs. That s about 500 550 kilowatt hours of energy per year from each panel on your roof. 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. Google s project sunroof gives building by building details and now has data for parts of all 50.

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. Let s say on a good day you average 5 hours of direct sunlight. So the kwh divided by the hours of sun equals the kw needed. Calculating the amount of sunlight.

4 how does that compare to your annual energy usage. Easy to use tools allow you to construct your own scene and automatically plot the shadow results. Solar radiation peaks at solar noon when the sun reaches the highest point in the sky. Dark roofs absorb light up to 90 of solar energy and convert it to heat emitting it back into the atmosphere.

Multiply 5 hours of sunlight x 290 watts from a solar panel 1 450 watts or roughly 1 5 kilowatt hours per day. 6 but don t forget every house is different. The us ranges from about 4 hours 6 hours of sunlight per day on average see the below map. Let s estimate you get about five hours per day to generate that 30 kwh you use.

Green roofs on the other hand absorb sunlight and even put it to good use. You need a sunny roof to benefit from solar panels but yours may be sunnier than you think. Or 30 kwh 5 hours of sun 6 kw of ac output needed to cover 100 of your energy usage. 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.

Learn more get an estimate and connect with providers. States like californiaor floridacan expect more clear and sunny days. Weather is also a factor. 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.