An appliance by appliance approach to energy independence is the perfect approach for most. Utilizing this approach to solar power, you can slowly build out your solar power system when money becomes available to you.

For example, a great way to start out is to set a small goal such as powering a few lights or your computer with solar power and then build out from there. For an example, let us say that the first thing we want to power is a computer.

The average computer needs 200 watts (that includes monitor, modem, etc.) The average home uses a computer 14 hours a week. We then multiple 14 by the number of watts used by a computer per hour, which is 200: 14 x 200 = 2800.

But conversion is never perfect. You need to plan for a loss of electricity due to the inverter. Inverters are a necessary component in all solar power systems. There purpose is to take the DC current that is produced by your solar panels and convert it into useable AC current like the kind you have running through your home. In order to plan for this loss, you need to multiply watts by 1.15: 2,800 x 1.15 = 3219.99999.

Your next step is to plan for battery loss. When a battery loses electricity and then recharges, a small loss of electricity happens. To quantify this loss, you multiple by 1.2: 3219.99999 x 1.2 = 3863.99999

Now you want to figure out how many amp hours per day that your computer needs. To figure this out you need to divide 3863.99999 by 7 to get 551.99999

Notice that when people talk about solar power, the use kilowatts not watts. Watts and kilowatts are the same thing. The reason people like to use kilowatts instead of watts is because with kilowatts the numbers are much smaller and therefore easier to communicate with. To convert 551.99999 to kilowatts you divide by 1,000 (kilo means 1,000): 551.99999 / 1000 = 0.55199999

You now need to know the number of hours you have of sunlight per day. If you live near Los Angeles, California then the average is 5.62 hours of sun light per day. I will use Los Angeles, California.

We are almost done, hang in there. Now we want to calculate the kilowatts of solar panels needed. To figure this out, you divide kilowatts by the hours per day of sun: 0.55199999 / 5.62 = 0.09822. So you need 0.09822 kilowatts worth of solar panels to power your computer.

When you price solar panels, you will note that they are by wattage. If you buy a 100 watt panel, then you will need 6 of them to power your computer. To calculate this you take the amp hours per day that the computer needs, 551.99999, and you divide it by the watts of the solar panel: 551.99999 / 100 = 5.52

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2 Responses

1. 
   Pete Says:
   March 2nd, 2009 at 7:42 am

   Thanks for the information but how did you figure out how many amp hours per day the computer needs.
   Why divide by 7 ???

2. 
   Solar Guru Says:
   March 2nd, 2009 at 8:26 am

   Notice in the article it starts off with the calculations by stating, “The average home uses a computer 14 hours a week”. So to go from weekly use to daily use you divide by 7.

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