How much energy would I save if I bought a solar panel?

Question

How much energy would I save if I bought a solar panel?

Answer 1

My daughter is in high school and her teacher's parents built a house up north ENTIRELY powered by solar.  They took the entire class there on a field trip to see it.

They have NO EXPENSES whatsoever other than property taxes.  She said it was pretty amazing how the whole thing was set up.  I can't remember now all the details but we're talking Canada here and long, cold winters too.  They are retired and live there year round and keep a generator around for the odd time it's needed.

That's the kind of home I would like to have in retirement too thank you!!!!

My brother in law has solar panels which heat his POOL so it costs him nothing.  They could easily make cars with solar panels which charge batteries too I am sure of it, maybe not the whole shebang, but enough reserve in case your (electric) battery should run out.

Answer 2

Well, you would definitely save alot of money + energy, yet, it would take a long time to make up for the actual cost of the solar panel.

Answer 3

If you live in urban areas, or on the grid in rural areas and are thinking of putting up panels the last time I got quotes they were for 15-watts a square foot of area. That means if you put up 1,000 sq.ft. you get 15-kilowatt-hours of power per hour of full sun.

If you count on full sun output for 2-3 hours a day, take your average daily use in kilowatt-hours from your electric bill and divide back to get how many square feet you need to supply your house in 2.5 hours. Then consider the lot location, latitude, climate and all to figure things from there.

Then double that to pay the bills if you can (how many square feet face the sun well enough to use, etc.). This means you make money after the initial capital expense is paid off which doesn't take long. For where there are restrictions against large panels there are cells made in what looks like roofing tiles; 1,000 square feet of panel in Seattle paid off in about 7 years.

What this means is that overall you are turning your roof into a small electric generation station tied to the grid so it adds to the power available for where it's needed.

Not only will you save all the energy you use, you'd make more for others to use most days. Most homes use > 50-kilowatt-hours a day, but consider other things as well so it's all installed at the same time to keep costs down.

If millions of people used panels, the existing grid can handle surges better, so, less likely to have a blackout or brownout during the summer for example. Panels are hard to get immediately, worldwide demand is high, Europe and Asia are installing a lot of them.

Improving your home's insulation pays, so does putting up barriers to cold winds, improving solar gain on rooms where you can. Keep thinking about how your home either gets too cold or too hot. Lattice screens and awnings reduce solar gain where it's too hot from too much sun. Work with what you have to reduce power needs, doesn't take a lot to make a big difference at most sites.

Answer 4

Not enough to pay for the solar panels.