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This is going to be a 5 part series, I’m going to go into detail of the alternative power for the home. This includes Solar, Wind, and Water. Although most folk’s do not next to a raging river, I will still discuss the different way’s to produce energy with water current. This week we will be talking about Solar Power.
What is Solar Power?
The Sun put’s out energy every second, that energy is known as Photons. You can power the world’s need for electricity for a year, in just under an hour. That is how much the energy the Sun put’s out. You may notice that there are more and more energy companies putting up Solar farm’s, which is just a huge array of Solar Panel’s hooked into a power bank. I have actually delivered panel’s to a solar farm just East of North Branch, MN when I was still OTR.
How does it work?
Energy is generated when photons hit the Solar cell’s, by the act of breaking electrons loose from their atoms. Each Solar panel can have many individual Solar cell’s. You can’t get electricity just from setting out the panel’s in the Sun, You have to have a Power bank connected from the Solar panel array. A Power bank is a collection of batteries connected together to store the energy gathered from the Solar panel’s.
How do I determine how much power I would need?
One easy way to determine how much power you would need to generate would be to look at your electricity bill to find out how many KWH you go through over the course of about 6 months, you would want to get an average number and go from there. If you have an AC unit, you will find that it would be next to impossible to be able to run it, as well as any type of electrical
space heater, they just draw too much energy.
You can also order a P3 International P4460 Kill A Watt EZ Electricity Usage Monitor which will allow you to check each electrical device that you use to determine how many KWH that product uses. This model also allows you to input the Rate that your electricity company is charging you per KWH, that way you can see how much that product is costing you to run it every day. If you would rather do the figuring by yourself, I would suggest getting the P3 P4400 Kill A Watt Electricity Usage Monitor This will do the same thing the 4460 model does, except for the ability to have the device figure up the amount you pay for that product each week.
You will notice that you go through a lot of KWH each month. That is fairly normal, now there are way’s for you to be able to not have to cut back on using the things that you want to use, but it can be pretty expensive. Each electrical device that is plugged into an outlet whether it is on or not, will draw juice from the system. So if you are not using something, I would unplug it, it will save you in energy cost’s and help you to better determine how big of a solar system you will need.
Is Solar Power Expensive to switch to?
This is a tricky question, yes it can be expensive to get started, but if you do the calculation’s you will be able to see how much of an investment it would be to switch over to solar energy. There are a lot of different companies out there that will do all the work for you and get it done right. If you go through a company to have them install it all for you, they will help you determine what your need’s will be and they will work with you to find out what you’re
willing to fork out for the system and all.
If you were to take your current Rate per KWH and do the math for what you use over a 15 year period, you will see how much you will be forking over to the power company in that time frame. Let’s say that you are being charged $0.16 per KWH, and you use around 1400 KWH per month, that will run you around $224 per month just for the usage. so you take $224 x 12 = $2,688 that is how much you will be paying each year just for the usage, that is not including the
other fee’s and taxes you will be paying. So now we will need to find out that cost in a 15 year time frame, so you will take $2,688 X 15 = $40,320. That is what you will be paying over the course of 15 year’s to the power company, that isn’t including the other fee’s and tax’s you’ll be charged. Another thing to consider, Rate increases, when I first moved into my own place, I
the electric was pretty cheap, but over the course of 5 year’s, my rate had went up 6 cent’s per KWH, now that may not seem like much but it add’s up over time. Every electric company is different as far as how much they charge and how often the raise the rate’s so you will need to find out what you are being charged currently per KWH to better determine your cost’s.
If you want to do it yourself, it can be done, I would suggest you have knowledge about how electricity work’s and what you can and can not do. You can electrocute yourself if you do not know what you are doing. You will need to do your research pretty thoroughly to make sure you can build the system you need to run what you want. You will also need to check for ordinances
or and kind of local regulation’s on alternative power for your home, because there are places that will not allow you to get off of the grid, or even use it as a supplement to your current provider.
Next week I will walk you through the steps on How to build your own solar power system, since there is a lot to cover with building your own set up, I’ve decided to break it down into a separate article. Also be looking out for my product review of my Ozark Trail 35L Choteau Daypack Backpack orange/grey that will be coming out next week separate from the How to build your own solar power system article.