How Do You Estimate Residential Solar Power System Size?
With the cost of energy climbing and global warming and peak oil serious concerns for many people, more homeowners are considering solar power as the alternative energy of choice in the quest for an energy-efficient home. The first step in moving to residential solar power is estimating your home’s average energy usage. Then you can intelligently partner with your solar power installer to design your residential solar power system. Gather your electric utility bills from the past 12 months. Add together the actual kilowatt-hours (kWh) used for each of the 12 months and divide by 12 to find the average kWh used per month. Divide the average kWh used per month by 30 to find the average kWh used per day. Divide the result by 5, which is the average number of peak sun hours in the United States. Multiply the result from Step 3 by 1.43 to account for system losses. The result is the size of the solar power system in kilowatts that will meet your average energy needs.
