Ever wonder what potential your roof has for solar power generation ? To answer this question now there is a website ( Roofray ) that is looking to help answer all of those queries using satellite data and a hands-on web site. Basically it’s a solar clearinghouse that uses Google satellite data and info from the National Renewable Energy Labs to help users make good decisions about what sort of system to buy.

Here’s how it works: enter an address, pull up the satellite image of the chosen building’s rooftop and then using the RoofRay tool based on Google maps, draw your solar arrays ( YouTube video attached). Data on square footage of the system, slope of the roof, power per square foot and total peak power all show up in a chart, and the info displayed depends on how big you’ve drawn your system.

After drawing the panels you can dive into metrics based on the size and location of your solar system, including projected performance, financial analysis, average monthly utility bill after solar is added, total cost summary and, our favorite, time until the system pays for itself. The biggest potential of the site for the user could be the ability to test out how good a home’s solar potential is before buying it. – Via