Google is launching Project Sunroof, a new service it says could help Britons save money by burning less electricity in their homes by switching to solar power.
The technology giant released in the United Kingdom the tool called Project Sunroof, in collaboration with the energy provider Eon, which calculates the energy savings a house could achieve, using data from the Google Earth and Google Maps applications.
A similar service has existed in the USA since 2015, where reviews showed that in general it was accurate, but in some cases it gave inaccurate results.
The Project Sunroof uses machine learning technology to estimate how much solar potential a house has by examining the property’s characteristics, such as the roof area and its angle, as well as weather data, such as the sun’s position relative to the dwelling. Google claims that its models are so detailed that they can assess the impact even of a single tree on the house’s solar potential.
However, it is not the first tool of its kind. Ikea offers a similar service in partnership with Solarcentury, and Tesla launched its own solar roof measurement program last summer.
Nicole Lombardo, head of partnerships at Google, said: “We are very excited to help people in the United Kingdom make the right choices regarding the installation of solar panels on their roofs and transition to renewable energy sources”.
The project is another example of Google's public commitment to green energy. In 2017 it announced that its global activities use only renewable energy sources.
