Solar power is the power source of the future, and there is no doubt about that. It is friendly towards the environment, but with innovative solar panel materials like graphene, it is becoming more cost-effective by the day. And this is all set to continue as your scientific knowledge advances. It is therefore of little wonder that you want to choose solar power. The needed solar energy depends most on your household's power consumption and whether you wish to substitute or supplement the power provided by your power company.

Installing solar panels is a one-time investment and makes for significant savings. Just account for the various state and federal government's attractive solar power adoption programs. Your power needs will determine the number or size of your solar panels.

Let's guide you through calculating your energy requirements first. They are as follows:

Calculating Total Energy Consumption

It is not hard for you to estimate the amount of energy you need for your household every month. Just observe the following steps:

List All Devices And Power Consumption

Please make a list of all the electrical devices and appliances you have and note down their power consumption measured in terms of watts. People interchangeably refer to it as load. Make sure that you identify all the loads you use today and those you plan to use soon.

Smart Ways to Cut Your Energy Bills

You can use energy efficient tricks to reduce power usage. For example, you can invest in well-insulated walls, windows and roofs or consider harnessing the sunlight with sustainable solar pool covers for inground pools.

Estimate Daily Use

Arrive at the approximate daily use of the device on an average. It is the usage time for each device in the average day.

Determine Monthly Wattage Consumption

In the following step, you proceed to multiply the wattage consumption of each of the electrical devices with the estimated period for which it is used daily.

Usually, your power bills specify kilowatt-hours as the consumption unit. If all these numbers are a bit too much for you then australian residents especially those in Ipswich have good news as you can consult Solar Power Ipswich experts. It is highly recommended that you do that if you are serious about switching to solar. The consumption figure is crucial to assess what you need. To convert watt-hours into kilowatt-hours, we need to divide the former figure by 1000 as a thousand watts constitute a kilowatt.

In the step preceding the last, we try to arrive at the power bill count by converting the number reached in the previous step to each device's per month usage hour count.

Arrive At The Power Consumption

Finally, we can estimate and assess electricity consumption by considering the electricity rate of your service provider.

Voila! There we have your electricity bill.

The Calculation Formula To Use To Estimate Number Of Solar Panels

Next, to let you determine your solar power needs, you to do some further number crunching. You also need to estimate the number of solar panels you need to ensure that your home remains adequately powered through thick and thin. Keep in mind that this calculation formula will give you only a rough estimate. For enhanced accuracy, you should seek expert help.

In very brief, this formula is as follows (Don't worry, we will discuss the different factors in brief):

Monthly power consumption (kWh per month) /The average amount of sunlight your building location receives multiplied by thirty = The kW amount your solar system needs to provide

Let us now do so:

Estimate Your Monthly Power Consumption

We start this formula by picking up the numbers arrived at during the preceding number crunching. This number is your monthly electricity consumption as measured in kilowatt-hours. Besides the method mentioned above, you can look into your past electricity bills to arrive at the average. For this illustration, we will consider the US national average, which stands at 914 kWh monthly.

If you find that you don't use enough power to commit to a full solar setup, or you just want a backup in case of a temporary power outage, a small portable solar power station can be more cost-effective and less of a commitment than an entire solar array.

Ascertain How Much Sunlight Your Location Receives

The number of solar panels to install to generate enough power to meet your household requirements depends significantly on the average exposure to sunlight in the area. The nifty little utility provided by Google, Sunroof, is helpful for this. For this calculation, we will consider the average daily peak sunlight figures of North Carolina, which stands at 4.71 hours.

Insert The Numbers Into The Formula Previously Mentioned

We already have the power consumption, peak sunlight figures, so substituting these values in the equation, we get:

4.71*30 = 141.3 kW

Then,

914 / 141.3= 6.5 kW

So, you need solar energy generating power of 6.5 kW or 6500 watts.

Divide Needed Wattage Output By Output Of One Solar Panel

Lastly, we divide the total energy you need by the amount of energy produced by one solar panel. The calculation leads us to the number of solar panels you need. For a premium solar panel capable of generating 320 watts, the calculation will be:

6,500 / 320 = 20.3 Solar Panels

The last thing to mention is that almost every figure we have calculated so far in this article varies from household to household. Experts will advise you to seek professional help to come at a more accurate estimate. But for general purposes, the methods illustrated above should serve well. Save more, save the environment too!

Additional resource: Guide to whole home battery backup