If you decided to go green with your house and power it with the help of solar panels, the first question that arises is how many solar panels you need to power your entire home. This is a straightforward question, but the answers are quite complicated. Why? Because there are many factors that need to be taken into consideration when you are calculating the number of necessary solar panels for your house: your house’s energy needs, the solar cells’ power, the sun availability and weather in your area, and your roof space and incline angle.
- Energy usage – this is the first thing you should calculate. To power a house, you have to know how much energy that house consumes, on average. If you have a small house and you do not consume a lot of electricity, lucky you, you will not need many solar panels to power your entire house. Of course, energy usage can vary from month to month and season to season, but you have to make an average. Check your electricity bill to find out how much electricity you use every month. It will give you an idea about the monthly energy needs of your house.
- Cell power – when you choose the solar panels for your house, pay attention to the number watts they produce. Some of the largest solar panels you can find on the market produce about 120W. If you decide for a type of solar panels that produces less, you have to consider buying a larger number of solar panels.
- Sun availability and weather – the solar panels get their energy from the sun. When the sun is not up in the sky, your solar panels will not produce any electricity. So, you have to calculate the number of hours your house receives sunlight per day. This aspect can be influenced by the weather in your area and by the season.
- Roof space and incline angle – because the best place to install solar panels is the roof, you have to see how much space you have there, and what the incline angle of the roof is. When you install the panels, you have to position them under an angle that receives maximum sunlight.
Calculating the number of solar panels somebody needs for powering a house may be one of the most difficult parts of going green. However, the best thing would be to make this change gradually, by buying a few solar panels at a time and readjusting your needs and purposes on the way.