See What 50 kWh Can Do to Power Your Home Energy Systems (Includes 3 Real Life Scenarios!)
Let’s get specific.
If you’re tired of hearing all those easy-to-say but hard-to-prove statements like “Save money with solar power for home energy!” that don’t have any hard numbers to back them up, you’ve come to the right place.
How much energy do the various energy systems in your home actually use? How much can solar power offset them? Now’s your chance to dive into some real numbers. So, let’s get to it!
Disclaimer: This Is the Internet, Not Stone Tablets
The following information has to make a number of assumptions. It’s impossible to avoid, because every appliance and home energy system is different. They have different efficiencies to begin with, but also different ages, different quality, and all the rest. So don’t take this as truth from on high and then get upset if your numbers turn out a bit different. But what you’re about to see are real numbers. Most come from various pages on Mr. Electricity’s website, an extremely well-researched and well-respected website for all things electricity.
We’re also assuming you have a solar power home energy system that produces 50 kWh per day. Our example does not include a solar power battery system. This too varies depending on the size of the solar array you’ve installed on your home, where you live, the weather, and many other factors. But since most homes are comparable enough in size and we can’t control the weather, 50 kWh per day is a good number to use, though maybe a bit on the high end for some homes. So:
What Can You Power in Your Home’s Energy System With 50 kWh of Solar?
With 50 kWh of solar piping into your home each day, you could run your desktop computer all day for 13 days.
You could run a 2.5-ton central AC system for 14.3 hours (yes, AC is an energy hog). So, assuming you aren’t running air conditioning all day long, solar can power your home’s AC energy needs.
50 kWh per day of solar power also allows you to bake at 350oF in your electric oven for 25 hours, though that might overcook your ham just a bit.
A typical 50 gallon electric water heater uses 385 kWh per month, which is about 12.8 per day, well under the 50 kWh produced daily by your hypothetical home solar energy system.
And now, for the number you’ve all been waiting for: You could run 26 loads of laundry on the warm/cold setting in a top loading washing machine. Use hot water, and it’s a lot less. Use cold/cold, and you can do even more.
Remember – these are all based on a solar energy production rate of 50 kWh per day, which is 1500 per month.
We can keep going. But to make it fun, and a little more true to life, here are three scenarios that show what 50kWh per day of solar power makes possible for your home energy needs.
Power Your Home’s Energy with Solar: 3 Scenarios
Here’s what you can do with 50 kWh of solar power in one day.
Scenario 1: Sitting on the computer all day in May instead of being outside like you should be
Wash three loads of laundry, dry by hanging (5.7 kWh)
Bake for one hour in the oven (2.0)
Have hot water for the day (12.8)
Computer on for 8 hours (1.28)
Refrigerator on all day (3.6)
Five 60-W lights on 4 hours (1.2) — switch to LED bulbs and save a lot of power.
Run your air conditioning for 6.7 hours (23.4 kWh)
Scenario 2: Big family laundry day in the hot summer
Wash 8 loads of laundry, dry by hanging (15.2)
Have hot water for the day (12.8)
Computer on for 2 hours (0.32)
65-inch plasma TV on for 5 hours (0.95)
Refrigerator on all day (3.6)
Five 100-W lights on 4 hours (2.0) – seriously, LED’s will help.
Run your air conditioning for 4.3 hours (might need a ceiling fan that day!) (15.1 kWh)
Scenario 3: March Madness – Day 1. 16 games on the 65 inch plasma
No laundry. The games are on!
Have hot water for the day (12.8 kWh)
Computer on for 8 hours (1.28)
65-inch plasma TV on for 13 hours (2.47)
Refrigerator on all day (3.6)
Baking for two hours – food for all your friends (4.0)
Five 12-W LED lights on 4 hours (0.24) – see? Look at how low that is!
Run your air conditioning for 7.3 hours (25.6 kWh)
Of course, your home uses electricity for many other things besides these, but you can see here that a good-sized solar power system can supply many of your home’s energy needs.
Most systems that provide solar energy for homes don’t completely offset your power bill, and that’s not usually the goal. A good target goal is to offset 70% of your average monthly power needs. Some months it will be more, others less.
But now you have some examples of what you can do with solar power. Home energy systems that use consistent amounts of power, like refrigerators and hot water heaters, are the easiest to make predictions about. Figure out your actual numbers, and then see how much solar power you’d need to offset them.
Here’s a table summarizing the data you’ve already seen:
What can solar power do for your home?
Schedule a time for one of our solar consultants to pay you a visit, and find out!
Learn: How much do solar panels cost?
Visit this page to learn more about solar energy for home residences.
