You probably already know that solar panels can save you money by generating free electricity and reducing your utility bills. But that isn’t the onlywayresidential solar panelshelp you save. Installing rooftop solar panels creates shade that blocks sunlight from hitting your roof. As a result, less heat is absorbed into your attic, and your entire home stays cooler. A cooler house requires less air conditioning, resulting in less energy consumption and lower electric bills.
The Temperature in Your Attic Affects Your Entire Home
Most of the heat that infiltrates your home during the summer comes in through the attic. As the sun beats down on your roof the hot shingles send that heat down intoyour attic, raising the temperature inside. According to the laws of thermodynamics, heat will always move from a hotter location to a colder one. So, when you have your AC running in the summer, heat from your attic will travel down into your living spaces where it’s cooler. This heatmovement makes your house hot and uncomfortable, and it also forces your airconditioner to work harder, increasing your energy usage and driving up yourbills. Installing solar panels can help reduce solar heat gain and lead to a more comfortable and energy-efficient home.
Solar Panels Reduce Heat in Your Attic
Rooftop solar panels keep your attic cooler in a few ways:
Shading:
Solar panels create a physical covering that shades your roof and reduces its overall surface temperature.
Air Circulation:
Solar panels are mounted on a racking system that holds them a few inches away from your roof. This creates a gap between the panels and the roof through, which allows air to circulate. Airflow in this space can carry heat away from your home.
Reflection:
Solar panels have a reflective surface that will bounce some of the heat that hits them away from your home.
Not only do solar panels keep your roof and attic cooler, they also convert the solarenergy that would otherwise be heating up your home into electricity, so it can beput to use powering your home.
More WONK Please
After the mass (asphalt, wood, insulation, and drywall) gains sufficient thermal energy, it begins radiating that energy in all directions once the ambient temps decrease. Radiant wavelengths are not stopped by these materials and will penetrate the building envelope, sometimes making it feel like the heat has been turned on after you’ve gone to bed. Solar panels slow the heat gain that your attic experiences during the day. Measuring the existing temp in the attic space is only asnapshot of the ambient heat gain and not a measurement of the total energy gain.
For a more scholarly analysis, please check out this link: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0038092X11002131
