Light Calculator

Calculate the amount of direct light you can expect in your apartment or garden throughout the year.

About our light calculator

Why calculate lighting?

Are you looking for what light you can expect in your apartment? Maybe in a certain section of your garden? It's useful to know what your whole year of sunlight looks like before you choose plants that will match.

How do I use this?

Enter your address or find your current location. Click "Calculate Lighting" and we'll find an estimate of light by the hours of each day. Click into each month to see more details per day.

How are you calculating this?

We take the USGS data for the topography of your area (other buildings, mountains, etc) and then determine the sun's position to you at each given point. This gives us a good sense for the amount of direct light you'll receive at a sunny day. It doesn't take into account seasonality or partial light conditions.

How accurate is this?

See above about our calculation methodology. This approach is a slightly simplified version of the one used by solar installers to determine how much energy you're going to collect. For most locations it's useful as a ballpark estimate.