Making Sense of Insolation: Introducing the Sunmetrix Solar Score


One of the most common frustrations about solar energy is the difficulty in understanding the amount of solar radiation at a given location. Not only the solar radiation levels change from one season to another, but even during a single day the amount can vary 1,000-fold. Many homeowners who are curious about solar energy get easily intimidated when they see units such as kwh/kw, watts/m2, or one of my personal favourites: megajoules/m2. Yet, they also understand that quantifying the solar radiation somehow is imperative. After all, just like any other investment, making the best decision is much easier if both the benefits and costs of an investment are known in advance. Wouldn't it be nice to quantify the solar energy potential of a site with a single number? Wouldn't it be nice to know your number and how it compares to your Aunt Betsy's place on the other side of the country?

Enter the Solar Score


Our Solar Score is a simple yet powerful metric that gives you the rank of your site compared to all the other sites around the world. From the least favorable location in our database to the absolute best site for solar energy on Earth, each site has a score ranging from 1 to 100.

So, what is it good for? Knowing your Solar Score can help you in a number of ways:

* By understanding where you stand, you will have a more realistic expectation of how much electricity you can generate. This will not only help make better purchase decisions when you are having your system installed, but it will also avoid any frustrations down the road if your initial expectation was too high or too low.

* You can easily compare your site's potential to any other site in the World. For example, did you know that Los Angeles has a Solar Score of 81, while Boston's score is 49?

* You can access our customized recommendations for your Solar Score and make the most of your location.

Why not Discover solar energy where you live?