--Hey Howdy! -Mabey someone could help me out, Im wonderin if a 14' x 28' roof would have enoughf room on it for enoughf solar panels to supply the electricity needed to run a modest 1 bedroom rowhome inhabited by 2 people. -A bunch of lights,-a computer,-a refridgerator and an entertainment center, -thats about it. -It really dont seem like alot! -Waddayas think? -Could I get away without buying any electricity if I fill my roof with photovoltaic joints? -Our bill is about 300 a month. -It just seems like a whole lotta roof to be doing nothin with. -Why aint these on everybodys roof?<rhetorical Heh Heh.. -It seems like we autta be able to run back and forth to the store an shit too with some kinda li'l car or something we could plug in at night. -Mabey someone who knows more about it could tell me if a 14' x 28' roof aria could produce enoughf electricity to cover a $300. a month bill. -Thanks!
If you are spending $300 a month on electricty then PV solar panels are not going to make much differnce.It sound a a great deal for what you are doing.I would suggest that you look at ways to cut your consumption in the first place.My web site lised in my profile has a page on the subject.
--Damn... -I thought I could do better with alla that room up there. -Im still gonna do it as soon as time and funds allow. -I figure if were not gonna get the money forem when we move we'l just takem with us. -Thanks alot for all that math Shag! -It looks like something youd see on a blackboard somewhere!
well did the math myself and looking at solar panels that produce 50 watts per foot....thats 392 square feet x 50 watts thats 19.6 KWHs for 6 hours thats 117.6 kws...@ 15 cents per kilowatt thats $17.64 per day.....or $529 per month..... but then again, its 50 watts per quare meter...not foot....so i'd need to redo the math....and im lazy oh and shaggie solar panels collect about 10 percent of the suns available energy
$300 per month? Dang, what kind of energy prices are you paying? Are you sure you are only powering a fridge, lights, computer and entertainment system? Those items use very little power- I run all those things in my RV (bus conversion) using 500W solar panels charging a bank of 4 golf cart batteries and running an inverter for 120VAC. I can run lights, computer, TV, etc. all night and have the batteries all charged up by the end of the following day. The panels only take up about 50 square feet of roof space. If you are paying $300 per day you must be running space heaters and/or air conditioning or else getting ripped off by your utility provider. On the same topic, I heard that you can buy roof tiles that are also solar PV panels that plug into each other.
You can get 15% out of a quality solar panel. Though at the moment given the hideous chemicals that they are manufactured out of I'm not really sure that its worth it right now. Many semi-conducting materials are made out of some fairly nasty stuff (gallium based compounds are common). While they may improve the conscience of users, the planet takes a hit in their production. Pure silicon devices are being worked on and show promise but they arent here yet.
