block party

Now you can use Google to organize your neighbors around solar.

You may remember Google’s Project Sunroof, a website that uses maps, weather records, and a database of local laws and tax incentives to create, basically, Google Maps for solar. You just type in your address and, voilà, you can see exactly how suitable your roof is for solar.

Well, Project Sunroof just launched a new data explorer tool with real political potential — one that crunches solar feasibility data for an entire zip code. Interested in setting up a community solar project? Want to show your city council just how much energy the city could produce if they streamlined solar permitting? Picking a neighborhood for your solar-powered survivalist commune? Google’s got you covered.

Seriously — this is a cool development. For a long time, there was so little public discussion of climate change that it seemed like it could only be tackled on an individual basis. Public tools like this are a sign of how the culture is changing.