A new online tool allows consumers in major U.S. markets to view which homes in their neighborhood have A sampling of rooftop solar systems mapped in the Los Angeles area. Source: OhnHomesolar, which company installed the project and the price of the system.

In 2017, Google’s Project Sunroof used satellite images to allow consumers to view which homes in their neighborhood installed solar. San Francisco-based OhnHome has extended this application with the development of NextDoor Solar. The company, a provider of information for homeowners interested in purchasing solar, electric vehicles and other clean tech products, relied on a database of over 500,000 residential solar projects and 4,000 solar companies in the U.S. to design NextDoor Solar.

Recent research shows that local solar adoption can be “contagious,” so the mapping tool is expected to provide incentive for consumers to install such systems. It can also aid consumers in finding local installers, which tend to offer prospective customers 10 percent more savings than large national outfits.