The San Francisco Solar Map is nearing completion this month.  The online map application allows users to type in their address in the City by the Bay and get an estimate of the contracting costs and energy savings possible with the installation of solar panels on their home or business.

The project, a partnership between the City of San Francisco, independent engineers and the engineering firm of CH2M Hill, is the first interactive solar power map of an entire city in the world that allows users to access the data necessary to make informed decisions about their renewable energy needs.This is a terrific idea for a website which will hopefully find implementation far and wise outside of the Bay Area.  However, there’s only one obvious problem here which even the site itself seems to be in a bit of denial about: San Francisco is not the sunniest place around.  Not that this should stop the project or anything as San Fran has a mild enough climate where the amount of climate control energy is much less than the rest of the country.  Other sources of renewables such as wind and tidal should no doubt be looked into in this amazing City.

You can takepart in checking out great ideas for interactive renewable energy applications by checking out the San Francisco Solar Map.

LINKS:

SFGate: Site for solar panels nearly ready

SFWater.org: San Francisco Solar Map

Generation Exe: San Francisco Solar Map Website Launched