I’m looking into buying solar panels for my home. I would like to run it completely off solar power. As of right now i use 250 kWh of electricity each month. I don’t care about the price of the solar panels i just want to run my house completely of solar power. Can you help me? Know of any good websites? I don’t even know where to begin?
Your usage is already very conservative – good! This is in the range of what you can reasonably power with a standalone system, but if it were me, I would not bother trying to go off-grid – too many hassles with keeping the batteries maintained. If you go grid-tied, you can still claim you generate 100% of the kWh you use. This is basically what we do.
I see also that you don’t seem to be particularly concerned about the finances. This is good, too, because at your modest power draw, it takes a long time for a photovoltaic system to pay back. Ironically, it’s the really heavy electric users (that pay expensive tiered rates) that have a quick payback from solar.
And I echo: the solar water heater should be first, it pays back much faster.
Here’s a link to what we did. Go to the bottom of the page, it links to a home video documentary. http://www.angelfire.com/ca2/roderick/solar/photovoltaic.html
6 responses to Solar Power My House?
I’ll tell you where to begin- get solar hot water heaters first. Much more reliable, cheaper and efficient than solar to electric to heat. Google solar installers in your local area for people who install them.
References :
I took about 2 minutes to find this:
http://www.homepower.com/home/
References :
http://www.solarpowerathome.com/cost-of-solar-energy.html
http://www.homepower.com/article/?file=HP127_pg72_Taylor
http://www.homepower.com/article/?file=HP127_pg72_Taylor
You may be interested in some fundamental stuff about how solar power equipment works
References :
http://www.solar-facts.com
Your usage is already very conservative – good! This is in the range of what you can reasonably power with a standalone system, but if it were me, I would not bother trying to go off-grid – too many hassles with keeping the batteries maintained. If you go grid-tied, you can still claim you generate 100% of the kWh you use. This is basically what we do.
I see also that you don’t seem to be particularly concerned about the finances. This is good, too, because at your modest power draw, it takes a long time for a photovoltaic system to pay back. Ironically, it’s the really heavy electric users (that pay expensive tiered rates) that have a quick payback from solar.
And I echo: the solar water heater should be first, it pays back much faster.
Here’s a link to what we did. Go to the bottom of the page, it links to a home video documentary. http://www.angelfire.com/ca2/roderick/solar/photovoltaic.html
References :
Hi Mark,
You will be interested on this guide:
http://www.agua-luna.com/offgrid_guide.html
If you prefer more professional help you can recurr to very affordable green consulting, that assist with your design and tell you exactly what to get:
http://www.agua-luna.com/consulting.html
References :
I have been living with solar energy systems for 28 years. It works great! But you have to know how these systems work so that you can get an affordable, low-maintenance, reliable system that does not require a lot of technical training to operate. All this information has been assembled at http://www.lightontheearth.org/ including a book specifically written for householders and small businesses.
This information will allow you to tell your installer/electrician/contractor what you want. It will also serve as the basis for do-it-yourself systems if you have the inclination and experience with tools and construction. We do not need nuclear. We already have the largest nuclear fusion generator in the solar system – the sun. It is conveniently placed 93 million miles away where we can collect the output as light and turn the light into electricity, hotwater and heat. We don\’t have to worry about nuclear waste and radiation contamination of the biosphere.
The solar energy revolution has started. Join us and transform the world!
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