South Pacific Web Mapping

Mashing-up Spatial Data with localized energy statistics will allow home buyers to geo-search for properties while applying energy efficiency parameters for refining their search results.

With the increase in energy prices together with busier transportation routes, urban properties prices and rating will significantly be affected by the following parameters:

1. 1. Sunlight and house site angles (Solar efficiency)

   2. Transportation availability to nearby shopping and employment centers (transport cost).

   3. Broadband availability and quality (telecommuting opportunities).

The San Francisco Solar Map is a great example for geo-rating bay houses according to the property’s solar potential and utilization.

Future releases of the RAS Energy Saver mapping solutions will now allow home buyers across Australia and New Zealand to query properties for energy efficiency snd travel time to urban centers using intuitive an mapping solution.

Properties available thorough the Google Maps API and the Street View data set will be now be query able for energy efficiency and utilization.

With the new availability of location related fuel pricing AU web services we can now integrate a fuel module that will complement our Property Energy Factor Calculator (PEFC) this will complement our ability to identify long term energy cost trends against locations across AU/NZ.

Home buyers will later be able to generate long term energy cost reports before  buying into desired properties.

We will now be integrating fual, traffic, solar power and broadband availability to complement our PEFC rating of locations accross AU/NZ.

Thanks again Gur Yaari of the Hebrew University for the excellent advice regarding the generation of energy heat maps using linear algebra formulas.

with the risk of a coming recession a group of Math and Physics scientists from Jerusalem headed by Gur Yaari of the Hebrew University has constructed a mathematical structure that can actually prove that doing altruistic actions (such as helping others or saving energy resources for future generations) can actually pay in the long run.

Applying these research  results using the RAS Energy Saver Property Selector will show that buying environmentally friendly technologies and cost effective energy houses will save money in the medium to long economical time periods.

With Heat Maps that could actually map the energy efficiency of regions and properties, home buyers across New Zealand and Greater Victoria will now be able to do the right thing and save energy while still saving money and reduce their future energy expenses.

By feeding the candidate property’s geographic coordinates and a few basic house site angles, home buyers will now be able to receive results on future transportation costs, heating and lighting power bills and optional technologies that may save on the property’s ongoing maintenance.

By saving the planet and helping future generations you will now save your own funds when buying your next dream home.

would it be this Coromandel one?

Many construction and building supplies companies are riding on the energy efficiency trend offering state of the art insulation products and materials, but how about taking sunny angles and house site positioning into account while selecting your property and building the house?

I few years ago while visiting Northern India (and the region of Ladak on an agriculture technology tour) I have noticed the local method for utilizing the sun angles for heating the house by positioning the main living room sun facing while shifting one of its sections seasonly. a satellite image of the town of Leh is showing the square houses (and the breaking of the two south facing sun-rooms)

Leh’s latitude is 34.1 north (equivalent to about 60km north of New Zealand Cape Reinga if comparing the sun rays angle relative to the equator) with extreme winter temperatures due to the high altitude of the Himalayas, the Ladakies are still utilizing the suns energy as a primary source of heating energy.

With the rise of fuel and energy costs, more people around the world are finding out that the original positioning of their house (which in many scenarios will be decided according to the surrounding views) is causing them hundreds of dollars loses for having to light and heat the house where sun energy could have been used.

We probably hear less of those features and advantages since there is no business benefit for service providers (such as building supply manufactures) on this front.

So lets do the Math:

An average north facing house site in Whitianga will receive about 2200 annual hours of sunlight(see the graph below), we will use information collected by the University of Colorado for the town of Norfolk, Virginia with the same distance from the equator (36.8 degrees) same elevation (10 meter above sea level) as Whitianga NZ, figures are average measured between 1961-1990 on a 2-Axis configuration solar panel, described later.

The daily energy harvest average for those locations (Whitianga/Norforlk) is 6.2 kWh/m2/day which is essentially means 6.2 “hours of full noontime sun per day,”

For example, the rated output of our array is 1,620 watts (1.62 kilowatts), and the average solar radiation for Whitianga/Norfolk VA is 6.2 kWh/m2/day for a 2-Axis set (described later). This gives me a theoretical power output of 10.04 kWh per day. Factoring in the system efficiency of 0.80 (the solar system energy loss) will leave us with 8.03 kWh of power per day.

This could provide 8 hours of ten 100W light bulbs worth of daily light, which is enough for a year round indoor light and fridge power of a three bedroom household.

Those feagures will be saving my family $748 NZD per year (based on 20.42 cents per kWh from my last electricity bill) for each solar cell array installed.

(image: eeca.govt.nz)

We will provide pricing charts for calculating how long will be the return on investment for a Whitianga, NZ and a Brisbane, QLD household in the following posts.