Google-sponsored and run, Project Sunroof allows individuals to discover the solar savings potentials of their own homes and communities. Launched in 2015, the web platform grants users from the United States the opportunity to enter their address and receive an instantaneous analysis of the solar potential of their roof. The platform provides a map of the user’s neighbourhood and home; individual roofs are classified along a sliding scale of “shady” to “sunny”. The analysis also includes the amount of square feet available for solar panels and usable hours of sunlight per year, supported by 3D modeling and weather pattern analysis. The app also performs an automated cost savings projection were solar panels to be installed on the home or building, but this analysis is currently limited, as it does not take into account the current energy mix used to power the homes or buildings unless configured with the appropriate information. Users can deepen their analysis with financing tools, installation details, and information regarding individual environmental impacts and utility rates. Following their analyses within the data explorer, users can then search for solar providers within their area to embark on their transition to solar, all while providing a proximate timeline of the solar switch process. The web allows for an objective estimation free from market influences and backed by tailored data, designed to promote a data-driven analysis of renewable energy options for individual consumers.
Categories
Citizen Science, Data, Industry/Natural Commodities, Internet of Things, Regulation, Visual Technologies
Air Pollution Robot
The dangers of air pollution to human health are well documented, though the traditional methodology of collecting and reporting on sample lags behind the need to keep abreast and regulate air pollution in a meaningful amount of time. The use of drones and robots have been identified by researchers as resources that can be tweaked […]
Artificial Life, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Ecological Monitoring, Industry/Natural Commodities, Lifestyle, Monitoring
Telematic Rivers
Erica Kermani’s artwork seeks to answer a central question: if rivers were seeing an equal, living entity, would humans take issues like climate change threatening them more seriously? In his year-long art exhibition in 2017, Kermani, in collaboration with Diana Salcedo & Jeana Chesnik, created a new forum of interaction between humans and rivers to […]
Climate Change, Ecological Monitoring, Lifestyle, Monitoring, Pollution, Visual Technologies
Co-occupied Boundaries
Art is easily found in nature but rarely is what considered art today inherently natural. The concept of co-occupied mediums that serve to be both functional for nature and aesthetically pleasing to people is being actively explored by Asya Ilgun and Phil Ayres, from the CITAstudio at The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. In […]
Climate Change, Ecological Monitoring, Lifestyle, Monitoring, Pollution, Visual Technologies