It’s sometimes a big job to measure or even look at a building’s exterior, especially a roof, and if you’re considering solar energy, calculating sun and shade is usually a job for the scientists. If you’re in a major center (covered by GE) and want to get some reasonably accurate data, Google Earth and the 3D Layer can provide it all for free.

For visualizing sun and shade, one can go to their city in GE, and select the options at the Layers menu at the lower left, 3D Buildings,  then in the ‘View’ tab at the top, select ‘Sun’ and a scroll bar will appear for time and date. This will show how sunlight falls at any time of day or season, so if you’re not sure if your collectors will be shaded by a building, it’s easy to find out.

Another use for these free tools can be for measuring. In the GE Tools menu, select ‘Ruler’ and take readings even on the 2D maps.  For more complete measurements, it is possible to use Google’s Sketchup to get roof area or the dimensions of  buildings - if the model is on GE.  By opening Sketchup and going into their 3D Warehouse, search for the building, then use the measuring tools, or add your solar panels and then ‘View in Google Earth’ for a full simulation.

These are very powerful tools, and the Chinese version has just been added to the many other languages.

It is also possible to get almost any model realized using a 3D color printer.  It’s expensive, but the photo textured models will be quite realistic. The cost right now is $300 to $400 for an 8″ building, and wall thickness of the model is a big factor in material cost, so some preparation work can get the cost down.

There is a great deal of support available for Sketchup - video tutorials, downloadable examples and a support community with an acknowledgment system for experienced users who help others.

Currently there is no global standard for 3D models, so many projects out for tender are still passed around on paper partly because of this.

These tools address the many barriers to a global standard - cost, language, file format and distribution.