How do I figure out how many solar panels I need to run my house?

This depends on your goal. If you wish to produce all of the electricity in terms of annual kilowatt hours that you use, your calculations should include that you will only get about 1/6 of the total energy output from an optimally place panel. That is a one kilowatt panel could produce at most 24 kilowatt hours in a 24 hour day if the sun were to shine continuously. Realistically, the 1 kilowatt panel will produce about 4 kilowatt hours per day.

Now, figure out how many kilowatt hours you use per year. Divide that number by 365 to get the average daily usage. Then divide that by 4 to get the number of 1 kilowatt panels you will need which are optimally oriented.

If you want an automatic calculator that does this calculation for you and even lets you put in the appliances you will be running off of it, go to:
http://www.mysolarsecret.com/solar-power-calculator.html

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