Just in time for Earth Day, Los Angeles County officials this week unveiled a solar mapping program that allows homeowners and businesses to go online to determine if their properties are good candidates for solar power. The  Los Angeles County Solar Map application leverages the power of Microsoft Virtual Earth to provide the data visualization and serves as the front end user interface for the application.

The program uses roof size, pitch and shading from nearby trees, buildings and mountains to provide a building’s solar potential and the potential value of installing solar panels. To better understand this, the site provides “About your estimate” information, but I received the following details from Mark Greninger, Geographic Information Officer for the County:

“Basically we used our high resolution elevation model taken using LIDAR during our 2006 Imagery Capture (see http://planning.lacounty.gov/lariac for details), and ran ESRI’s Solar Radiation Model for the entire county (this took 30 days on an 8-processor server).  This calculation includes the effects of roof pitch, chimneys, trees, etc to provide the areas of a roof that are good for solar.  The roof area itself was pulled from a calculation using the Infrared imagery. From that point I used GIS analysis to attach the property information to all of the results, and then summarized the results for each property.  Moving forward we are looking to figure out how to show the 350 million individual values that go into the results.”

The County, as a major electricity user, with facilities spread across a wide geography, seems a natural test-bed for the implementation of solar energy systems. But the decision to install a solar energy system is generally difficult because it involves complex factors such as: the solar electricity potential (based on geography and building characteristics), installation costs, availability of rebates, estimated energy savings, identifying reputable installation contractors, performing return on investment (ROI) calculations, and who to contact to get started.

But LA County officials consider it a fiscally responsible move in an effort to reduce electricity costs by installing solar systems and believed a Solar Map would provide a simple and elegant solution, utilizing existing aerial imagery, solar potential software and a solar engineering model to provide potential solar installation information for any building.

As you would expect with a Virtual Earth application, the map features pushpins to represent the different data layers, in this case Government (green), Residential (yellow), Commercial (pink), Schools/libraries (cyan), Non-profits (blue), and Zip Code Summaries (red). Mousing over the pushpin provides information for that particular installation or a summary of all installations for an entire zip code (installations are combined to create a total figure).  The red dot represents the center point of the zip code only.

I am thrilled to see that the County implemented Virtual Earth’s 3D environment for its users to navigate its buildings and terrain in the intuitive manner that only Virtual Earth 3D provides. Internal Services Director Tom Tindall, suggests through the County’s press release that this additional level of detail will help the County itself to “evaluate and implement cost-effective installations, including solar power and solar water heaters.”

I am including the County’s full press release below as well as some screenshots I have captured to wet your appetites, but take a moment in observance of Earth day and go visit their site.

And be sure to check out my buddy Chris “Elvis” Pendleton’s Virtual Earth Evangelist’s blog for his keen perspective on this application and for other interesting “Virtual Earth on Earth Day” news.

-=Virtual Jerry

April 20, 2009

COUNTY DEBUTS NEW SOLAR MAPPING PROGRAM

Homeowners and businesses will be able to go online to determine if their properties are suitable for solar power

Los Angeles County officials today unveiled a solar mapping program that will allow homeowners and businesses to go online to determine if their properties are good candidates for solar power.

The program uses roof size, pitch and shading from nearby trees, buildings and mountains to provide a building’s solar potential and the potential value of installing solar panels.

By typing in an address, a person will learn the property’s roof size, area suitable for solar panels, electricity produced, electricity savings, carbon reduction, nearby solar installations and case studies, available rebates from utility companies, and information about installers.

The level of detail provided means that residents and solar installers do not need to go up on every roof to see if it can support solar, saving time and money. Solar installers will be able to give more detailed estimates based on specific situations, but the solar portal provides generally accurate guidelines of what can be expected. The ultimate goal is to make the website a one-stop solar shop for residents and businesses.

Supervisors Mark Ridley-Thomas and Zev Yaroslavsky praised the project, saying it will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and energy costs.

The new website -- available at solarmap.lacounty.gov – went live today and will be featured Wednesday – Earth Day – at the National Conversation on Climate Action all-day conference in Los Angeles, which is part of a national effort to fight global warming.

It is the largest solar map in terms of geographic area in the world, covering 3,000 square miles, said Acting Chief Information Officer Richard Sanchez, whose department developed the site in conjunction with the Internal Services Department.

The solar website, developed at a cost of $93,500, was generated from high-resolution imagery and elevation information acquired in 2006 which included roof-top and ground elevation every five feet. It calculates and ranks incoming solar radiation every 25 square feet, using roof pitch, orientation, and shading from surrounding structures and trees to provide the best estimate possible.

The project will be of great benefit to the County itself, said Internal Services Director Tom Tindall, as it includes high resolution - three-dimensional modeling of 800 County buildings. These detailed analyses will be used to evaluate and implement cost-effective installations, including solar power and solar water heaters.

The County is a major electricity user, with facilities spread over a wide geography, operating in more than 3,000 buildings that comprise more than 60 million square feet, so the mapping project will save countless hours developing initial estimates and prioritizing projects manually, said Tindall.

It will do the same for other building managers throughout the County, said Yaroslavsky, who authored the 2008 motion to develop “green building” ordinances for the County’s unincorporated areas to lower utility rates and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Buildings account for 65 percent of electricity consumption and 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States, according to the U.S. Green Building Council. Energy consumption can be reduced by as much as 20 percent by the use of energy-efficient measures in existing buildings.

The County is developing a program that would assist homeowners and businesses in financing solar panels. On April 14 the Board of Supervisors approved Supervisor Ridley-Thomas’ motion to create by July a program that would allow property owners to finance energy-efficiency upgrades by borrowing money from the County and paying it back through their property tax bills.