Houston Tops Google's List Of U.S. Cities With Solar-Energy Potential

HOUSTON, TX - Houston gets it fair share of rain, and it seems as if it floods at least once per year now in the city, but the sun shines a lot as well. So much so that Google says Houston has more solar-energy potential than any other city in the U.S.

The company's Project Sunroof, which was launched in 2015, utilized Google Maps and Google Earth imagery to figure out how much energy could be produced if solar panels were installed on more than 60 million buildings around the nation. Project Sunroof has grown from just nine states in 2015 to a 50-state enterprise.

"If the top 10 cities reached their full rooftop solar potential, they’d produce enough energy to power 8 million homes across the U.S.," Joel Conkling, a Google project manager, wrote in a Project Sunroof report.

In addition to Houston, Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Antonio, and New York comprise the top five solar-potential cities in the U.S., according to Project Sunroof data, which calculated that the Bayou City could produce 18,940 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of energy per year from rooftop panels, a level that far outpaces the rest of the field. By comparison, Los Angeles and Phoenix, the number two and three cities on Google's list, could produce 14,905 GWH and 11,686 GWh per year, respectively.

(Data courtesy Google/Project Sunroof)

"To put the rooftop solar potential into perspective, the average U.S. home consumes 10,812 kilowatt-hours (kWh) a year according to EIA," Conkling wrote. "There are one million kWh in one gigawatt-hour (GWh). One GWh of energy is enough to supply power to 90 homes for an entire year.

A tour of Houston uncovers that fact that solar panels are not a common sight, a reality that demonstrates the huge potential for solar energy in the city. If you want to see your home's solar-energy potential, click here for Project Sunroof.

Learn about other city projects happening in your area by signing up for the free Houston Patch morning newsletter.

— Image courtesy Google