PV Gap

Rhonda Said:

Can you power your house using Solar Panels ?

We Answered:

Sure you can, absolutely, but they must be sized correctly for what you want to accomplish.

The size of a solar panel system depends on a variety of things: how much energy you use, your geographic location, roof ridge line orientation, shading factors, angle of installation, efficiency of chosen panel, average rain fall in your area, etc...

In order to have electricity at night or during a storm, you would either need to connect the panels to the existing electrical grid and use it as a battery backup or install a battery backup (or hydrogen backup) system.

But to answer your question, yes you can definitely run an entire house on solar.

Allison Said:

How much does it cost to put solar panels on a house?

We Answered:

As you request, I won't post a link for an installer. But truthfully, the only way to get any reasonable estimate of how much it will cost for your needs is to have an installer come out to your house, and do a free quote. You can always decline. The price depends on the size of system you need, which depends not on the square footage of the house, but how much electricity you use. And the electricity can vary 10:1 between someone who blasts the air conditioner all summer and another who has no air conditioner, and watches every watt. It also depends on how much sun your area gets. Lots of sun means a smaller system.

I did install panels on our house. It cost $12,000 net, and supplies essentially 100% of our electricity. Our house is 1800 square feet, but no A/C, no pool pump, no big screen TV, gas heat, gas stove, energy-saving lighting and appliances throughout. That was 2 1/2 years ago. Today, that same money buys a 30% larger system.

Claudia Said:

How hard is it to add solar panels to a house?

We Answered:

I work on a lot homes and I've never seen one that worked more than 2 or 3 years. most of them were disconnected. maybe the future will give us better technology

Jim Said:

Should I have solar panels installed on my house now, or should I wait for the technology to improve?

We Answered:

If you can afford about $50000 for an average house, go ahead.

You might want to calculate how much power cost this saves per year to see how many years it will take to get payback. Look at your old utility bill to see what you paid for the last year. Also see what your average power consumption was for that period.

Check with your utility company to see if you can sell power back to them from your array. Then get an array 2-4 times bigger than your average power consumption is. This allows you surplus to sell to them to make up for periods with no sun.

Remember that you need a roof facing the sun with nothing to block direct sun, not even a small bare tree branch. The way the arrays work, if any small portion is blocked, the array puts out nothing. The array should be at the optimal angle, which varies with location.

Danielle Said:

I want to start powering my house off of solar panels and possibly a wind source?

We Answered:

This is just one of many sites on the web.

http://www.solarhome.org/

Just put in "home solar panels" in a websearch and you'll get more.

By the way, solar electric power is not cheap. If it were, everyone would have them including the electric company. The time it takes to get your money back from one of these systems can be 10 years or more. Energy conservation is a better way to go.