The impact of roof morphology on solar potential: making Toronto suburbs solar ready

Abstract

Rapid urbanization, the increasing effects of climate change, the need to reduce fossil fuels’ dependency as well as to improve cities’ resiliency are accelerating the shift towards renewable energy. Additionally, unnecessary complex roof morphologies that are often pushed by suburban divisions’ developers to make houses look more “opulent” and appealing to homebuyers, also impede the smooth integration of active solar technologies. To address this, and to respond to increasing homebuyers’ interest in renewable energy, this study looks to demonstrate how relatively minor design changes could affect the potential for solar generation and create ‘solar ready’ homes without compromising on the aesthetic of the roof morphologies in styles expected by homebuyers. It looked at six different roof morphological forms ranging from small to large houses, a common suburban house archetype in Canada. The roof configurations were remodelled to remove ‘fake dormers’, minimise ridges and valleys, etc. This process helped maximize the south, south-east, south-west, east and west facing surfaces. The results show that these changes could have a significant impact on the magnitude of solar power generation. The power output from a remodelled neighborhood at an optimized orientation exceeded the community’s electricity demand by 24%.