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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I only need to power fans and lights. How many solar panels do I need for my house?

Ok. Go to the solar power calculator here:
http://www.mysolarsecret.com/solar-power-calculator.html

At the top left side under "List load items", select the type of light bulbs you are using. For this example, I will select "Lights 100w equiv. fluorescent". Now there is no fan but a fan should use about as much electricity as a blender. So on the next row, in the drop down box, select "Blender".

Now select the wattage of solar panels you will build. I'm using 300 watts for this example.

Now select the city nearest you. In this example I'm using Fresno California.

That's it. The calculator tells you that you need 1 to 2 solar panels and that if you build it yourself it will cost you about $200 dollars.

Play around with the calculator, you'll get the hang of it.

Technorati Tags: electricity, fresno california, how many solar panels do i need for my house, light bulbs, power fans, solar panels, solar power, solar power calculator, wattage, watts

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My family is really "Green" when it comes to our lifestyle. I just need to know how much it would cost for solar panels to provide our electricity. How many would one house need? Do they charge by the panel?

It is not that simple. You need panels, batteries to store the energy, an inverter. Your usage can be figured out by a professional who will ask you questions about your lifestyle to figure out your average usage, determining your panel/battery needs. You cannot run any high usage items such as electric dryers or electric stoves, or electric furnace (depending on where you live). There are a lot of variables. You will be looking at around $20-30000 per average 4 person household.

If you can follow instructions good, then you can do it for virtually free, minus the cost of solar panels with this guide

Technorati Tags: batteries, electric dryers, electric stoves, electricity, solar panels

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I'm doing a science fair project. I need to know how much a complete solar home would cost (switching from electricity to solar panels). My school is 215,000 sq. ft and our school annually uses 3,525,669 KWh. Where can i find how much that would cost? I've gone to several websites such as BP and i cannot find the answer. please help!
complete solar school***
the roof is flat btw

1, 75 watt pannel 400$

divide that into Killowatts and your talking millions of dollars

Technorati Tags: bp, electricity, kwh, science fair project, siemens, solar panel, solar panels, solar school, sq ft

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I have a hard school project, or least it seems hard. My teacher wants me to build a windmill model with nothing but office supplies. Is he crazy? I think so. Any how can anyone help me or point me in the right direction? Thanks.

Sure. But site your sources so you don't get in trouble by your teacher. I've heard that teachers have now caught on to students ability to complete assignments in a few minutes using the Internet and so they are asking you to site your sources if you are using the Internet, like you are right now, to research an assignment.

Goal:
- Convert wind energy into mechanical energy. Tap the mechanical energy produced to generate electricity.

Supplies:
- Chart paper for wings
- Punching machine for holes
- a spoke and pin to assemble the mechanical unit

For a how to demonstration watch the video below.

Convert the Mechanical Energy into Electricity

You can either buy a dynamo or use an old motor from a small walk man or similar appliance. The smaller the motor, the better. Also get a small torch bulb to showcase the electricity produced.

How to:

- Fix the axis or motor on the spoke of the windmill
- Take two electrical wires and connect (solder) the ends to the motor and the other respective ends to the torch bulb.

When there is wind (which you can produce artificially using a table fan) the windmill will rotate, resulting in the motor rotating and the reverse current should be sufficient to glow the bulb.

Duration : 0:3:55

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Technorati Tags: assignment, bulb, dynamo, electrical wires, electricity, mechanical energy, MOTOR, office supplies, solder, table fan, teacher, video, wind, wind energy, windmill

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Can you please explain to me some disadvantages and advantages of using solar energy? I also was wondering why it is called a renewable resource. Can you also tell me how much solar energy is left and how long it will last? Thank you so much.

Your easiest question first. The Sun will continue to shine for another 2-4 billion years. So no need to worry how long it will last.

Solar energy depends on lots of sunshine, one disadvantage is that on any day where there is no sunshine your solar panels will not generate any electricity. Such days are when it is: cloudy, overcast, rainy, foggy, and snowy. Another challenge is converting solar energy from DC to AC that you can use in your home. Solar panels generate direct current (DC) and this has to be converted to AC current to make it useful in running things in your house. Another challenge is in the storage of electricity. In order to store energy, batteries are required, so the DC current from the solar panels can charge the batteries, and then the DC current must be converted to AC.

The good news is, solar energy is clean, not pollution except for the manufacture of the panels and of the batteries.

Technorati Tags: batteries, electricity, home solar panels, renewable resource, solar energy, sunshine, using solar energy

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Can it be that a DIY solar system was created by a man who pulled an old TV lens from the trash?

In a stunning show of intellect, a writer for Worldsnest.com, tapped an unlikely source to create a homemade energy system: the garbage can. He has created a 6 kwh solar power system for about $6,000. A comparable 6 kwh solar power system done with PV panels and a professional installer costs about $60,000.

Now keep in mind that the powers that be in America want you to think that after 10 years of research and hundreds of millions of dollars spent, they still can't come up with such a system. Yeah right. Exxon, Chevron, GE, and the U.S. Department of Energy don't like these kinds of DIY solar power systems because they can't make money off it. The big oil companies want a solution that involves keeping you as a paying customer. The government wants a system they can tax. Both only want a solar solution that enriches them at your expense.

The oil tycoons in America will simply not allow a DIY system that empowers the people to produce their own electricity completely free of charge.

If you think I'm making all this up, watch the video below and decide for yourself.

Duration : 0:4:08

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Technorati Tags: department of energy, electricity, exxon, oil companies, oil tycoons, pv panels, solar panel system, solar power system, solar power systems, solar solution, tv lens

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1. Resources Resources U.S. Department of Energy http://www.energy.gov/ U.S. Department of Energy - Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy http://www.eere.energy.gov/ Energy Information Administration http://www.eia.doe.gov/ California Energy Commission (CEC) -- The primary energy policy...

The Idaho National Laboratory claims to have designed a nano-solar panel that has an 80% efficiency, double the efficiency of the best and most expensive solar panels used today.

How does it work? Well... it actually doesn't.

An array of loop nanoantennas is imprinted on plastic and imaged with a scanning electron microscope. The deposited wire is roughly 200 nanometers thick. Because of their size, the nanoantennas absorb energy in the infrared part of the spectrum, just outside the range of what is visible to the eye. The sun radiates a lot of infrared energy, some of which is soaked up by the earth and later released as radiation for hours after sunset. Nanoantennas can take in energy from both sunlight and the earth's heat, with higher efficiency than conventional solar cells.

I think these antennas really have the potential to replace traditional solar panels," says physicist Steven Novack, who spoke about the technology in November at the National Nano Engineering Conference in Boston.

While the Idaho National Laboratory can make the nanoantennas, they haven't figured out yet how to make them actually transmit electricity. Can someone say stupid? That's a little like giving a man starving of thirst a bottle of water and then saying, "Oh, by the way, the bottle is made out of steel and we forgot to put a hole in it."

Another problem I have with this nano-crap is that it is extremely fragile. Imagine someone throwing a rock at a solar panel. It breaks. For a nano-solar panel, a fart would do the same damage. Even in a protective case, imagine the disruption that a single drop of water rolling along the surface would cause to the nanoantennas or a bug running along its surface.

Nano technology works great in a scientific lab done by a man in a lab coat. Nano technologies problem, as it has always been, is how to make it rugged enough to survive in the real world.

Technorati Tags: electricity, infrared energy, nano, nano engineering, nanoantennas, nanometers, solar cells, solar panel, solar panels, steven novack, sunlight

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1. Resources Resources U.S. Department of Energy http://www.energy.gov/ U.S. Department of Energy - Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy http://www.eere.energy.gov/ Energy Information Administration http://www.eia.doe.gov/ California Energy Commission (CEC) -- The primary energy policy...

In a stunning breakthrough in energy storage, MIT scientists have found a way to mimic the way plants use photosynthesis to chemically store energy as you will see in the video below.

Nocera and Matthew Kananhave discovered a way to store the sun's energy in a non-toxic liquid. The process involves using the sun's energy to split water into hydrogen and oxygen gases. Later, the oxygen and hydrogen may be recombined inside a fuel cell, creating carbon-free electricity to power a house or a car whether it be day or night.

When electricity, whether from a solar panel or a wind turbine, runs through an electrode, cobalt and phosphate form a thin film on the electrode and oxygen gas is produced. Combined with another catalyst, such as platinum, that can produce hydrogen gas from water, the system can duplicate the water splitting reaction that occurs during photosynthesis.

The process works at room temperature, in neutral pH water, and is easy to set up.

This really is incredible because solar panels can convert sunlight into energy that can now be stored in a non-toxic liquid during the day, then the liquid converted into energy during the night. You can think of the liquid as a type of battery that can be used whenever the solar panel is not producing energy. This effectively eliminates the need for toxic batteries to store energy.

Nocera hopes that within 10 years, homeowners will be able to power their homes in daylight through photovoltaic cells, while using excess solar energy to produce hydrogen and oxygen to power their own household fuel cell. Electricity-by-wire from a central source could be a thing of the past.

James Barber, Ernst Chain Professor of Biochemistry at Imperial College London called the discovery a "giant leap" toward generating clean, carbon-free energy on a massive scale. Barber writes, "This is a major discovery with enormous implications for the future prosperity of humankind. The importance of their discovery cannot be overstated since it opens up the door for developing new technologies for energy production thus reducing our dependence for fossil fuels and addressing the global climate change problem."

The project is part of the MIT Energy Initiative, a program designed to help transform the global energy system to meet the needs of the future and to help build a bridge to that future by improving today’s energy systems.

This project was funded by the National Science Foundation and by the Chesonis Family Foundation, which gave MIT $10 million this spring to launch the Solar Revolution Project, with a goal to make the large scale deployment of solar energy within 10 years.

Duration : 0:2:36

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I would like to be able to calculate how much money I will receive from my power company if I were to make a solar panel and install it for my home and then sell the extra energy it generates back to the power company. I'm looking at my power bill and it seems that what I need to know to calculate this is how much would the power company pay me on a per watt basis.

Not everyone is going to have the same answer because different power companies will pay a different rate. Looking at my bill, I am being charged about 21 cents per kilowatt hour. One kilowatt hour is 1,000 watts per hour. So for every hour you send 1 watt back to the power company, you get 21 / 1000 = $0.021. But not really. What power companies do is to give you credit for what the power costs them only. Using the math above, I found that my power company pays me only 4 cents per kilowatt hour.

On average, you want to make a solar panel system that generates 12,000 KwH per year. To find out how many solar panels you need to buy to achieve this, here is the formula. If you live in California where you have about 8 hours of sunlight a day, then the math is 12,000 / 365.25 days = 32.8542 / 8 = 4.1 Kilowatt of solar panels. So in this case you want to make a 4 Kilowatt solar panel system. This means that if you buy a 120 watt solar panel, you would need 4,000 / 120 = 33 solar panels on your roof.

My friend John has 72 panels on his roof, here is a picture of his house.

Technorati Tags: electricity, hours of sunlight, how much money, kilowatt hour, make solar panel, solar panel system, solar panels

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