Welcome To SolarOpportunity.org

Created by the Computer Science Dept. at San Francisco State University this program is used to assess solar energy project opportunities. Students serve as the project developers as part of their efforts in the courses incorporating Community Service Learning. The City of Oakland is their initial client, but the program is aimed at communities in general, hopefully working with extensively with volunteers through non-profit organizations.

The City and County of San Francisco (Department of the Environment) and Marin County are collaborating with the City of Oakland on an effort to assess and promote solar power opportunities in our communities. SFSU is collaborating with the City of Oakland to create tools that are quick, and straightforward and reasonably accurate.

The process is used to:

  • a. Record solar energy capacity of properties in detail using high resolution GIS maps from flyovers.
  • b. Estimate costs and savings throughout the lifetime of the panels.
  • c. Generate letters alerting them of their opportunity

The process includes three major steps:

  • 1. Volunteers with a community group, or interns working for the City of Oakland interact with a Geographical Information System (GIS) to record the solar capacity of a property.
  • 2. The server uses sample data from "Clean Power Estimator" a private software program that is available on the web, along with the roof data provided by the intern application, to gather and record information regarding cost estimates for the property owner to transition to solar, as well as amortization schedules and current energy expenditures.
  • 3. If there will be a savings in energy costs for the owner to incorporate solar power then a letter will be generated and sent to the owner. The letter will include the aforementioned information along with information about ways to identify solar energy installers.

The software (web site, etc.) in this project is developed by students over several terms. Each term a new group of students provide the next increment of the project deliverable. We expect the final deliverable will require one additional term.