While solar panels help reduce your carbon footprint and save you money on monthly electricity bills, they also help to cool your home or business during the summer heat.  Led by Jan Kleissl, a professor at the University of California San Diego, a recent study found that solar panels reduce the amount of heat on rooftops by around 38%.  


Through the use of thermal imaging, the temperature at the ceiling of a building was 5 degrees Fahrenheit cooler under the solar panels than in the areas without panels covering the roof.  As well as keeping the building cool, solar panels work the opposite during the winter and keep in heat in the building.  This results in a decrease in your energy bill in both seasons, by reducing both the amount of air conditioning needed to cool your building in the summer and the amount heat needed to heat it back up in the winter.  


The team also found that the effect is greater when panels are tilted and there is a larger gap between the panels and the roof, because this allows more air to circulate and cool the building.  As well as the tilt, panels with a higher efficiency have a greater cooling effect.  Kleissl also believes that with additional funding and research, they could create a calculator that could be used to predict the effect for both home and  businesses.  


To read the full article, please visit the following link:http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/07/110718151558.htm

Eliza Jones-Summer Intern