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Can Solar Panels Power My Whole House-Including A/Cs?
Hello, I'd really appreciate some input on the subject of solar power panels. I've ready a lot and I've learned a lot in the recent months by Googl'ing and I realize it's a big undertaking and in order to generate a small amount of KWH it takes a lot of hardware/installation. I've been very interested for some time in this subject, not so much for my needs here in California (where my average monthly electrical bill is roughly $65, even when I run the A/C in my studio from time to time), but more for the time I spend in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where electricity is about 10 times as expensive and where the price per KWH increases every 2 months.
My question is; how realistic would it be to attempt to power a house in Brazil using solar panels? Of course it would be preferable to completely power the house with solar power, though partial solar power would also be helpful. It is hot in Rio 9 months out of the year (sometimes even all year long), and when it's hot there is plenty of sun. The cost of electricity is so high in Brazil (roughly 6 times higher than the US...and it goes up every 2 months or so) making it unaffordable to run A/Cs for most people.
1. Is there any way that I could run between 3-5 wall A/C units in a house, or one central A/C unit for the whole house (all day and all night) as well as to run the rest of the house's appliances (fridge, freezer, TVs, computers, lights, etc) using solar panels? I realize I'm asking a lot and I'm not sure how many KWHs it would require to run all of the above-mentioned, but is there a chance it could be done by only using the roof of the house as the resting area for the panels? If so, how much would it cost in hardware/installation to generate that much electricity?
2. I've seen solar panel systems on TV shows that apparently generate DC and then it gets converted to AC and then something else happens so that it can be used directly for the house...and when there is an excess of electricity, it feeds that solar-generated electricity back into the city electricity which turns back your meter. I have also seen systems that have battery arrays that are charged from the solar panels and then the house is run off of the batteries. Which of these 2 methods is best? (In my case, there may be one month where we're not at the house and one month where we are...could the "off months" be used to store generated electricity?)
3. Does anybody know if it would be better to seek to purchase solar panels in Brazil, or cheaper to import them from another country?
4. Has anyone heard of the SolCool Solar-Powered A/C? http://www.inhabitat.com/2007/07/16/solc... could this be a solution for those of us seeking to power A/Cs from solar panels?
Thank you for taking your time to read this. Looking forward to your answers!
9 Answers
- Anonymous1 decade agoFavorite Answer
Aircons use a lot of power, and many types draw a large surge of electricity when first turned on, which can be quite destructive of batteries, inverters, etc.
We have a medium sized solar system, which is our total supply for the house. Initial cost about $25 000 Australian. Our fridge is a gas one, can't run even a small fridge on solar even in midsummer. No freezer. We do use the TV, computer, lights and washing machine. Little else in the way of electrical stuff. Cooking is all gas. Heating in winter is woodfire, Cooling in summer is by portable evaporative cooler.
Regarding point 2, the systems which link to the existing grid are much cheaper, as you don't need batteries, but still not cost effective except in those countries which are particularly generous about paying for the power you put back into the system - Germany is particularly good on that point. No idea about Brazil, I would suspect not. If the payback is good, it might well be worth it considering you aren't there a lot of the time.
Try hunting down some forums on Renewable Energy, you might get sound advice from them.
- Stephen MLv 71 decade ago
You could put together a photovoltaic system which would power a house 24/7 and had batteries or some sort of energy storage system, inverters, etc. However, the cost to do this would be enormous. Just to give you an order of magnitude cost number, take a look at this:
http://www.americanpv.com/pdf/res_on/prices.pdf
Whatever your load, it is going to be toward the top end of this sheet (or off the sheet). Let us assume that you get the 11.7kw version. The cost for that is nearly $82,000 assuming no tax write offs, etc. Then I can assure you there were be at least $10,000 for batteries.... so here we are nearing $100k and I am not even sure this system would be large enough for your load...
Inverters and batteries will fail eventually and have to be replaced...
Now, there is a lot of work going on with thin film panels which are likely to be cheaper.... but the down side here is these have not (yet) been shown to be as reliable as the larger panels.
As far as doing this in Brazil. I have no idea. The Us is very open as far as trade and I will caution you that a lot of other countries aren't and thus have tariffs and such in place, so do not assume it is cheaper there.
As far as this "Solar-Powered A/C", I not getting exactly what they are doing, but I have to tell you I am at least suspicious of their claims. Take a look a this page http://www.solcool.net/tech.htm
See the cooling capacity average and the watts average. First, the use of average numbers here can be misleading. You can not supply this thing 1000 watts and expect it to work, it won't. Sort of the same idea as a utility brownout and electronics don't like it when you can not supply the current they need.
I suspect it is nothing more than a multistage compressor with a high speed and low speeds, which my home already has.
- 6 years ago
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Can Solar Panels Power My Whole House-Including A/Cs?
Hello, I'd really appreciate some input on the subject of solar power panels. I've ready a lot and I've learned a lot in the recent months by Googl'ing and I realize it's a big undertaking and in order to generate a small amount of KWH it takes a lot of hardware/installation. I've been very...
Source(s): solar panels power house including cs: https://tr.im/fyJHl - Anonymous7 years ago
There is a step-by-step video guide online right now that can show you how to reduce your power bill by making your own solar panels.
Take a look at it: http://tinyurl.com/Earth4EnergyRew
Why pay thousands of dollars for solar energy ($27,000 average cost) when you can build your own solar panel system for just a fraction of the retail cost. You can build a single solar panel or you can build an entire array of panels to power your whole house.
Some people are saving 50% on their power bill, some people are reducing their bill to nothing. But what’s most impressive is that just by following these instructions some are even making the power company pay them!
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- Anonymous7 years ago
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- Anonymous7 years ago
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