By A Renewable Energy Enthusiast

Before you start building your home solar power system, you need to know how much power is needed for your home utilization. This will determine how big your residential solar system will be and at the same time, gives you a rough estimated project budget.

To calculate your energy needs, follow the 3 steps below.

1) Calculate your home daily energy usage.

To get this figure, you begin by getting your home energy bills for the last 12 months and calculate the average kilowatt hour (kWh) usage per month. Why do you need last 12 months bill? Reason being, the power usage of your home fluctuates throughout the seasons.

Add up the total power used for the past 12 months and divide it by 12. That will give you the average monthly power consumption.

Now, take the figure and divide it by 30 and you should have your average daily power consumption.

2) Solar power system output.

This is to determine how much power you need the solar system to generate. But before you begin, find out how many usable sunlight hours your region receive per day. Different areas will have different average sun coverage. To get this number, look at the solar insolation map.

Now, use the average daily power usage you calculate earlier and divide it by the number of daily usable sunlight hour from the insolation map. Next, multiple the number with 1.25 as a factor to account for energy wastage from wiring, batteries, charge controller, power inverter etc.

Here’s an example, assuming your daily power needs is 15.4 kWh and your region has average 5.5 hours of sunlight. Then the calculation will be 15.4 / 5.5 x 1.25 = 3.5 kWh or 3500 watts a day.

Assuming you are getting a solar panel rated at 180watts, then you will need 3500/180 = 19.4 or 20 pieces of solar panel.

3) Photovoltaic (PV) panel watt cost.

Now, you need to calculate how much it will cost you to buy all the PV panels needed to generate at least 3500 watts of power. For the time being, the highest average cost for solar panels in the United States is $4.98 a watt. So, the solar panels cost will be 3500 x 4.98 = $17,430.

The figure is a rough indication of how much it will cost you to buy the solar panels. Remember, the budget excludes the cost of wiring, charge controller, battery bank, power inverters etc.

The number above looks quite high and most home owners will shy away from using solar energy to supplement their energy needs. Don’t worry, the government is willing to give you a helping hand.

In my next post, I’ll share with you how government rebates and credits will help you to reduce your home solar power project cost.

DIY Home Solar Power Guide

Do you want to know how to get started on building your own DIY home solar power system? If you do, check out Micheal Harvey’s Earth4Energy guide book. The manual comes with pdf files and step by step High Definition (HD) instructional videos. Click on the link below for more information.

==> Click here to visit Earth4Energy now!

If you are planning to use solar power system for your home, you have to figure out how many electrical appliances and lighting fixtures will be drawing power from the system. Obviously, when you have more equipment using solar energy, you will experience a reduction in your home utility bills.

The effectiveness of your residential solar system is limited by the size of the power inverter and the battery bank. If you need more power, you have to get a bigger inverter and add more battery units.

There is another way you can use solar power to reduce your home energy consumption. It is by using a solar powered ventilation fan.

One of the top solar ventilation fans available in the market is from Natural Light. I’ve located one from Amazon.com and decided to do a quick review about it.

The attic fan from Natural Light is made from one piece heavy gauge stamped aluminum body with no seams. This is great because it reduces the chance of water leakage during raining days.

The heart of the entire unit, the DC motor is powered by a 10 watt Photovoltaic (PV) panel from BP Solar. The solar panel can be adjusted from flat up to 45 degree to get the best angle to receive sun light. If needed, it can also be detached and mounted remotely to get the optimum sun expose.

The solar attic fan is capable of moving up to 850 cubic feet of air per minute. For every 1200 square feet of attic space, you will need to install 1 attic fan.

Size wise, the unit is 27.2 x 27.2 x 11.5 inches and weighs 45 pound. Natural Lights also offers 25 years manufacturer warranty on the attic fan housing, solar panel and the fan motor. The system is guaranteed to last a long time!

The entire kit is selling at $337.00 from Amazon.com. To purchase the attic fan, click here.

Homemade Solar Power System

One way of reducing the cost of a home solar power system is to build it via a Do It Yourself (DIY) approach. However, before you begin the project, it is best you acquire some knowledge on electrical wiring and solar technology.

If you are looking for a good home solar system guide, check out Ben Ford’s Homemade Energy Guide e-book. It comes with comprehensive information bundled with step by step High Definition (HD) instructional videos. For more information, read the review of Homemade Energy Guide in this blog.

One of the first home solar power guide I bought from the web is John Russel’s Power 4 Home. A lot of people may be wondering, does the e-book really works?

There are actually 2 e-books that come together in the Power4Home program. One is on residential solar power system and another one is on home wind generator.

Let’s take the solar guide as an example. To reduce your home electricity bill, John Russel suggests you use free energy from the sun. However, getting a professional solar contractor to setup the system can be very expensive. If you are planning to power your entire home with solar power, by prepared to invest upwards of $40,000.

A cheaper alternative is to build your own home solar system. A DIY system will not be able to provide sufficient electricity for your entire home. Nonetheless, it can be used to power most of your home electrical appliances and all of the lighting fixtures.

When you are using less electricity from the power grid, you will see a reduction in your utility bill.

What Power4Home will teach you is the step by step process of making your own solar panel. A typical solar panel is made from 36 pieces of 3” x 6” Photovoltaic (PV) cells. It is capable of generating 18 volts and 75 watts of electricity. The power output is sufficient to charge a 12 volt deep cycle or marine battery.

How much will it cost to make a homemade solar panel? If you were to follow the instructions recommended by John Russel, you can get it done with less than $150.

If you are planning to build a reasonable size residential solar power system on your own, you may need 2 to 3 solar panels. The other key components required for the system are the charge controllers, meter gauges, battery bank and power inverter.

Unfortunately, you can’t make these components on your own. You’ll have to purchase them from your local hardware store. John Russel has provided some recommendation in his guide.

In total, how much would it cost to setup the solar system?

Generally, you will need to invest about $1000 to $1500. The investment cost is much lower compared to a professional system of $40,000!

So does Power 4 Home System works?

The concept of generating electricity from solar cells has already been proven to be feasible. If you have the budget, you can employ a contractor to build the system for you.

If you want to save cost, you can make the solar panel on your own. Power4Home gives you the step by step instruction to do that. If you want to reduce your home electricity bill further, you can always scale up the system by adding more solar array.

==> Click here to visit Power4Home now!