Solar panels or wind turbine for a fruit stand?

Question

I have a fruit stand, and i would like to have power there for an air conditioner, some lighting, a couple fans, a stereo and small fridge. I really dont know where to start looking for what i need. i do know it would be off grid. so can someone please educate me on what i need.

Answer 1

Solar panels would be more efficient.

There's always going to be sun, but you can't be sure with wind.

Answer 2

Well honestly to find the right thing I would study your area and see what you area is like where your fruit stand with be. like how much sunlight on average it would recieve (If you did the solar pannels) Or how much wind it recieved on average then you could do like a small scale test and see which works more efficiently :)

Answer 3

May I suggest you begin your search looking through the pages of Mother Earth News, they usually have good sources listed for alternative energy sources, equipment, prices and manufacturers. Also you might get close to the phone book, you might find a few sources in there too. Good luck.

Answer 4

Depends on your location really but if you can doing both in a tandem system usually gets the most bang for the buck since when it's not windy it's sunny and vice versa.

Answer 5

Powering an air conditioner is going to be hard to do with solar and wind (those things do suck up some power) although if you are in a dry area getting an evaporative cooler might be a good idea (it'll need a bit of water but won't use much power).

If you can connect the fruit stand to the grid that would really be the easiest thing to do.

Whether you could get enough for solar would depend on whether sunlight is direct and how much area you could install (as well as how much you're willing to pay, more efficient panels are more expensive), wind probably wouldn't be reliable enough unless you are in a really good site that gets a lot of wind, at the very least you'll need battery backup if you go with wind (while solar might be doable if you only open in the day without any batteries (which will need replacement every few years if you use them a lot)).

A low rpm diesel generator might also be worth looking at (although with fuel prices as they are now I wouldn't be surprised if it's the most expensive option).

Answer 6

Hi,

In the 1st time you must check how much power you need

(air conditioner from 1000Watts to 3500W,small fridge about

200W, 1 fan approx.50W, a few lights approx. 30-100W,

CD-player approx.35Watts, etc.) than to calculate how many photovoltaic panels you need to use  ( 1 "solar panel" can supply about 80 - 160 Watts in full isolation ).....

Have a nice and  sunny day

Answer 7

Solar Panels For Sure!

We Have A Farm Stand At Our Amazing Little Environment Friendly School And We Are Going To Start Using Solar Panels.

Answer 8

The first thing that you have to do is to figure out how much electricity that you will need for each of these items that you want to run.

and since you will be working off the grid, there probably won't be any rebates.

also the swamp cooler instead of an AC unit is a good idea for several reasons..

Being off the grid, will mean needing batteries, but they should last more than a couple of years, and since solar panels, and wind turbines are both DC current, you will need a power inverter large enough to handle the wattage.

I will try to give you as many links as I can.

http://www.google.com/products?q=solar+p...

This is not mine and i cannot recommend it, but it might interest you.

http://www.earth4energy.com/?hop=dynamic...

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/10/...

http://www.nanosolar.com/