#2 Sun-Rich Arizona > On The Roof, In Arrays >> Re/New Able Energy

There will be solar cities if the supply side [and utilities regulation], and technology meet the demand. Costs have gone down more then 70%. Now there's a marketplace for innovation and development. This post is just to keep attention on the potential of solar power - however it happens.
Some cases to get started, beginning with Google's Project Sunroof computes how much sunlight hits a roof . . . read on for some suggestions to make it better.
This story first appeared on TheCityFix.

Google recently released Project Sunroof — an interactive online tool that allows building owners to estimate how much money they can save by installing solar panels on their roofs.
In short, the tool is a valuable resource for anyone considering solar power as a way to cut utility bills and reduce carbon emissions. However, Project Sunroof is only one piece of the picture.

Maoqi Sun

While it’s great that more buildings are powered by renewable energy, and have the tools to make the switch more easily, it’s just as important to reduce the amount of energy that buildings need to consume at all.

What should Google’s 'Project Sunroof' do next?

Help cut energy demand

Eric Mackres and Maoqi Sun

Tuesday, November 10, 2015 - 12:45 a.m.
Net Zero Energy buildings: from theory …
Most buildings meet their energy needs by consuming electricity that is generated in centralized power plants and travels for miles across inefficient power lines.

Eric Mackres

One alternative is to use electricity generated from clean, on-site resources such as solar panels to improve air quality and reduce emissions. But the cleanest, most efficient energy is that which is never produced at all, making building efficiency a top priority that should be tackled before installing renewable energy solutions.Net zero energy buildings (NZEB) are buildings that capture this idea that buildings can improve efficiency and meet their energy needs with on-site energy resources, such as solar panels. Importantly, minimizing energy consumption through energy efficiency is the first step — and most cost-effective element — of net zero energy buildings.

Here in Mesa, just to cite one example, at an early stage when developers Charles Huellmantel and Todd Marshall were planning Encore On First, a photovoltaic renewable energy system sufficient to offset 50% of the common area energy load was on the drawing for the rooftop. That's not net-zero but it's a forward-step in the right direction for a clean on-site renewable resource.
After the greatest possible cost-effective level of efficiency is achieved, then renewable private utilities or municipally-owned energy systems are used to meet the remaining energy needs.
Increasing clean energy but ignoring efficiency results in significant unnecessary costs for energy systems and the citizens and businesses they serve. Instead of concentrating primarily on renewable energy alone, city leaders, in both the public and private sectors, should prioritize an "efficiency first" approach to achieve net zero buildings goals

… to practice
Net zero strategies can be applied to both commercial and residential buildings through new construction and retrofits of existing buildings....
Beyond individual buildings, decision makers can also apply NZEB principles on a citywide scale. For instance, Cambridge, Massachusetts, has adopted a Net Zero Action Plan to improve the efficiency in local buildings because they generate over 80 percent of the city’s total GHG emissions.
To achieve this, the plan aims to retrofit existing buildings, promote new construction oriented around net zero and shift the energy supply toward renewable sources by evaluating solar options and developing a low carbon energy supply.

Toward a more comprehensive tool
That brings us back to Project Sunroof and how to make it better.
Project Sunroof draws on a user’s average electric bill to customize the recommended size of the solar installation, the cost and what percentage of the building’s electricity would be provided by solar energy. However, the tool implies that the monthly bill is constant.
It does not include recommendations for improving energy efficiency and reducing their bill. An important future step for the development of Project Sunroof is to allow users to explore building efficiency options and then connect users with service providers in their area who can help them to reduce energy use before or at the same time as a solar installation.
A tool that advises users to first improve energy efficiency, then implement renewable energy solutions would be very helpful in demonstrating to building owners and city leaders that prioritizing efficiency improvements before solar installations drastically would reduce the size and cost of solar systems.
Furthermore, this also would enable many more buildings to meet their complete energy needs with on-site technology, something that would be impossible for most buildings without higher efficiency.
Project Sunroof offers buildings a great starting point — but the next step is pushing it to become even better. Maximizing efficiency minimizes the cost and size of needed renewable energy systems, making the journey to low-carbon buildings more affordable, helping achieve the vision of "net zero" energy and providing a host of other benefits.

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