“Welcome to the San FranciscoSolar Map!” San Francisco Solar Map.
City of San Francisco, n.d. Web. 18 Feb. 2015.
http://sfenergymap.org (check it out!)
The city of San Francisco has created a Google maps page that outlines all the solar energy collection in the city. This “solar census” allows anyone to see the spread of solar energy collection in the city. It provides both a concentration map of the solar collection as well as an installation-by-installation map of the entire city. This allows anyone to see what businesses and city structures are producing clean energy. This knowledge can let people know what organizations are being environmentally conscious, and what organizations are being reckless in their energy consumption.
An educated populace is the first step toward green energy, if people don’t know about an issue they can’t get involved and make things happen. Knowledge is power, if this is indeed true then this Google Map, no doubt the product of a few tens of hours of work can provide a sweeping understanding of the clean energy situation in the city. If people become aware of which companies use solar energy and react to this by using their purchasing power accordingly it will suddenly become economically sensible to transition to solar power and more businesses will begin to switch over to solar.
Wow, this sounds like a great map that could entice people into learning more about alternative energy sources! Do you believe that educating the masses will be enough to control climate change?
This is such a cool idea! Do you think the solar map might act as a little bit of peer pressure to show people without renewable energy sources that it is “trendy” to use solar panels? I wonder if people will stop shopping at businesses that do not use sustainable energy sources, as well, and if/how this might affect small businesses that can’t afford expensive solar panels.
This sounds really cool! I love the idea of being able to know which businesses use solar energy and then being able to support them. I wonder if this could be an incentive for other business to switch their energy?