Rooftop Solar Moderates Indoor Temps, Study Shows-

Not only are solar panels perfect for cutting down the cost of electricity, but, according to a new report, they also apparently provide a sufficient amount of cooling to the building on which they are attached. The discovery was made by Jan Kleissal and his research team at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering in America using thermal imaging to monitor the temperature of buildings. The team noticed that during daylight hours the ceiling of a building with a rooftop solar array was five degrees Fahrenheit cooler than the ceiling of an identical building without solar panels. Because of this, total energy costs were impacted and resulted in a 38 percent reduction in “annual cooling load” – or, the rate at which heat is removed from the conditioned space to maintain a constant air temperature. To boot, the panels actually had an insulating effect which allowed the building to hold onto heat throughout the night. The complete findings will be published in an upcoming issue of the journal Solar Energy.