Which DC Neighborhoods Have the Most Solar Potential?

• June 21st 2017

by Nena Perry-Brown

While many put DC in their list of the top green cities in America, it may surprise some to know one sector of green living that city residents may not be taking full advantage of: solar power.

A new tool from Google intends to help homeowners calculate how well-suited their house is for a solar panel installation. Project Sunroof also allows users to examine the prevalence of solar power in their cities.

According to the site, 47 percent of buildings in the District (or 53,400 roofs) are “solar-viable”, meaning that the rooftop area can support at least four adjacent solar panels and an installation site of at least 2 kilowatts (kW), and that each panel receives at least 75 percent of the annual maximum sunlight in the District (a threshold of 1,040 kilowatt hours (kWh) per kW in DC).

Half of the top six zip codes with the most solar potential are east of the Anacostia River — including 20019, the zip code with the highest number of solar installations.

By plugging in your address on the site, you can get a customized estimate of how much a solar array would save you on your electric bill over a 20-year span based on Google Earth imaging of your roof shape and area weather patterns. You can also see how your neighborhood stacks up in solar energy production. DC residents can take advantage of federal PV tax credits and DC Solar Renewable Energy Certificates to subsidize their solar installations.

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/which_dc_neighborhoods_have_the_most_solar_potential/12713.