New York City Gets Mapped for Solar

[jpak]

http://www.environmentalleader.com/2010/05/11/new-york-city-gets-mapped-for-solar/

A twin-engine Shrike Commander equipped with a laser system flew aerial missions over New York City to collect highly precise 3-D images of the city and its rooftops, trees, wetlands and everything else, reports the New York Times.

The data collected with a laser technology known as Lidar (light detection and ranging) will help the city determine if there are any wetlands and how many flat and pitched roofs there are to create an online solar map that will help assess the city’s capacity for solar power, according to the article.

The project, which will cost about $450,000, is part of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s environmental agenda, known as PlaNYC. The federal Energy Department provided partial funding of $205,470. PlaNYC calls for reducing energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions from the city’s municipal buildings and operations by 30 percent by 2017.

Sanborn, the mapping firm hired for the project, told the New York Times it scanned the city at about 3,500 feet in nine six-hour, post-midnight flights from April 14 to April 30. The collected data will be analyzed over the next several months, producing solar and flood maps by the end of the year.

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[tekisui]

1. That is really cool.

[Johnny Noshoes]

2. I've thought about solar in NYC for years.

I ride an elevated train to and from work. I see so many roof tops and so much potential. I wonder if you could put arrays on the apartment building rooftops and then pool the energy generated to form a sort of electric co-op for each neighborhood. It might not be enough to FULLY power the buildings but it would reduce the use of fossil fuel generated electricity.

[Golden Raisin]

3. God knows we have enough

water towers on roofs. Don't know if the comparison is valid, but the concept and (assumedly) the space is there.