People can be confused by technical terms, complex calculations, and solar jargon. This can discourage them from choosing a solar-powered system. Sun Number created the Sun Number score to help you increase your awareness and determine if your home is suitable for installing a solar energy system. Let’s first understand what a Sun Number is and the factors determining your home’s sun score.
What is a Sun number for a house?
The sun number measures a home’s solar power and suitability for a solar panel installation. Sun number scores range from 0 to 100, with 100 being the most. A higher sun number indicates that your home is more suitable for inverters and solar panels. This will allow you to understand your house’s ability to generate solar electricity quickly.
What is a good sun number?
Although 100 is the ideal sun number for solar panels, this is a rare score, and few homes can achieve it. A score of 70 or more is considered good for a home and can help you save money over the long term.
Solar panels with higher sun numbers will generate more electricity if used in greater quantities. Any savings made will improve the return on investment of a solar energy system due to the high costs involved in its installation.
Factors that Affect the Sun Number Score
Building Solar Score
The maximum building solar score is 80 points. It makes up the bulk of the house’s total sun score. This is the most important factor when deciding whether your home is suitable to go solar. Platforms that use 3D imagery can determine how your home stacks up against various criteria and give you the building score. A score of 50 or more is acceptable, but scores over 60 are preferred.
These are the criteria that a building must meet to be analyzed
- Size of roof
- Roof orientation
- Roof pitch
- Shades for the roof
Regional Climate Score
Solar panels only work when there is sunlight. The more sunlight your home gets, the greater it’s potential to generate electricity. The region’s climate score is a measure of the amount of sunlight that an area receives. It has a maximum value limit of 8 points. A higher regional climate score means that the area gets more sunlight.
The score for Electricity Rates
Solar energy systems can help homeowners save money when electricity prices are high. It is a measure of the average electricity rate in your area and can give you an estimate of how much you could save by installing solar cells. It can be as high as 8 or lower, depending on how much electricity is used.
Solar Cost Score
The solar cost score is the lowest contributor to the final sun number. It considers the local solar installation costs. A maximum score of 4 means low solar installation costs in your area.