How Effective Is Solar Power?
Oct 01, 2009 in
diy
I am very concerned about global warming, and when I grow up (I’m only fourteen) I plot on using solar power to power my home (and I hope that when I grow up it’s customary). How efficient is solar power? How many square feet would it take to power a 2,000 square foot home? How much would it cost?
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7 comments
AspSmart on October 1, 2009 at 8:09 pm
Comment to “Ed” added…
There are two main types of solar power. One produces electricity, the other produces heat.
The electrical type are called “photovoltaics”, the heat type are “thermal”.
Photovoltaics are not presently very efficient, converting less than 15% of the suns energy to electricity, but by the time you build, they should be surpass, and cheaper. Thermal solar is much more efficient, especially if you use it to heat your water, because the system runs all year. Home heating is not as excellent, because winter is not a excellent time to collect solar. When you design your house, you can take advantage of “passive” solar, which is basically putting a lot of excellent windows on the south side (or north side if you are south of the equator!) and letting the winter sun shine in. These windows need to be very excellent, or have an insulator to cover them at night and cloudy days or they will gain energy all day, only to lose all of it at night.
As far as your house goes, it’s not so much a matter of how huge it is, as how well insulated it is. If you “super protect” it, you will need very very small heating or cooling energy.
The other cost you will have is for things like computers, refrigerators, TVs, sound systems, lights, fans, cooking gear and water heating. By alternative the most efficient, you can reduce the size of the photovoltaic system you would need, and using solar water heating will handle 50% of the yearly amount with present technology for about $3500. A photovoltaic system to handle all your electrical needs would be quite expensive now, in the $10,000 to $20,000 range, but that cost will continue to fall, and by the time you build it should be closer to $5000.
Hey Ed….I don’t know when you bought your system, or what other expenditure were associated with it…but 6KW systems don’t cost 40K anymore…this from Solar Today “A 25-year warranty accompanies the Sharp panels. In 2003, we paid $18,000, which included the eight batteries, two inverters, hardware, 6,000 watts of solar panels and overstress.”….and King solar sells a “whole house” package for $11,000… but they don’t say how huge it is. The average home in California uses about 7000 KW per month…so to get that much is going to be more expensive. Our young friend here is thinking ahead. If a house is located right and designed well, then the most efficient appliances and lighting is selected, it would be simple to live well on half that 7000KW.
Excellent luck, and excellent thinking!
roadless on October 1, 2009 at 9:03 pm
Solar power stuff is contolled but the oil company patents, it will never be cost effective
A passive system that heats water you can get some return
byron101 on October 1, 2009 at 10:02 pm
A quick down and dirty way to get some numbers is to get your last 12 electric bills. total the kWh and divide it by 12. Divide that by 30. Divide that by the peak sun hours a day. For the USA could be anywhere from 3 hours a day to 5 hours a day. That will be some where near the size of a system you will need in kWh. Mutiply that by about 8 dollars.
So if you have 575 kWh usage per month divided by 30 days gives you 19 kWh per day. Divide by 4 sun hours per day. You will need a 4.79 kWh system. So now 4,790 watts times 8 dollars a watt is $38,320 USD.
That is an thought of how to find the rough numbers. Now if you do all the work your self you could save a dollar or even two by not paying someone to do it for you.
Here is a do it your self site if you want to read up a small. The site is not written with the booklover having a PHD in mind. It for the everyday people. http://www.oynot.com
Don K on October 1, 2009 at 10:47 pm
#1 it won`t work if you don`t have SUN. If you`re in a region where you have varying amounts of cloud cover your effectiveness may be deminished. Also consider exsisting trees. They will also factor into the equation. SNOW. A blanket of this stuff all through the night will shut you down come morning. An upside question you may want to question, will your power company buy your surplus if unfilled?
william v on October 1, 2009 at 11:44 pm
Try http://www.oksolar.com I’m thinking it would be VERY efficient. It’s used to light alot of our fishing piers here in the south, where we tend to get alot of sunshine.
Tweet on October 2, 2009 at 12:39 am
If you are interested in solar power, I suggest looking up the Solar Decathlon. The Solar Decathlon is a college struggle in which twenty teams are building solar powered houses. It is held every two years, the next being in September of 2007. It is held on the Mall in Washington D.C. I’m on the Penn State Design Team and I promise you if this is something that interests you, it will knock your socks off.
snoopysv on October 2, 2009 at 1:17 am
I reckon Roadlessg is way of base on his cost estimates. My 6kW system cost close to $40,000, here in Martinez CA. Only by being extremely frugal, and living alone can I supply all my electrical needs. I still heat water with gas. I do agree that a photovoltaic system is the way to go.
Do lot of studying before costs any money on a solar system.