How to Size Photovoltaic Systems
A photovoltaic (PV) system is designed to convert the energy of the sun into electric energy for use in your home. Because of the high price of a PV system, you will need to size it based on your own usage. Before sizing it, try to lower your usage by switching to LED or fluorescent light, update your appliances and put systems in place to turn the power off to TV, computers and other devices that use power even when "off." Does this Spark an idea?
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Instructions
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1
Tour your house, writing down the number of lights you have and their power in watts (W).
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2
Refer to your manual or the information on the back of your appliances and write down their power requirements both in sleep mode and in use at the highest capacity.
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3
Write down the number of hours you use your lights and appliances per day. For large appliances you don't use every day, write down the number of hours per week and divide by 7.
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4
Multiply the consumption in watts by the number of hours of use for each appliance and for the lights. Add those numbers to get your average consumption per day.
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5
Divide that number by 0.8 to account for loss in wires and in the conversion from 12 or 24v to 110 volts.
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6
Determine your solar insulation for your area using the link in Resources. Divide the number in step 5 by the solar insulation to have the size of the PV system you need to install in your home to get 100% of your energy from solar sources.
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Tips & Warnings
You can use devices such as Kill-a-Watt to determine the power usage of appliances for which you lost the manual.
Using better appliances is a good way to save power, but so is turning off the computer at night and shutting lights off in unused rooms.
References
- Photo Credit Solar energy image by lefebvre_jonathan from Fotolia.com
