Beginner's Guide to Utilizing Solar and Wind Generated Electricity

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Beginner's Guide to Solar and Wind Energy

Many of the folks who visit our site are interested in installing a solar or wind electric system for their home but they do not know where to begin. Although to a certain degree each situation is different, there are a few basic things that will help you get started down the path to renewable energy.

Generally speaking, solar electric systems take from 12 to 20 years to pay for themselves depending on your location and what your local utility charges for electricity. Wind power systems can take from 8 to 12 years, depending on the wind speed at your site. That said, more and more states have very aggressive rebate programs and tax credits for both individuals and businesses to reduce the initial cost of the system. Rebates can be as high as 50 or 60% of the cost of the system depending on your state. To see all of the rebates and tax credits available for your state go to the Database of State Incentives for Renewabel Energy (DSIRE).

A Little Homework is Required

Solar electric panels (PV) and wind generators create electricity. If we are to help you size a system for your home, we need to know how much electricity (kilowatt-hours or kWh) you use each month. If you are currently buying electricity from the utility company that information is available on your electric bill. If you are looking into a system for your RV or cabin where there are no electric bills to refer to, then please go through the process of filling out the load calculator sheet in the Reference section of the How To area. Filling out this sheet requires you to supply two pieces of information - how many watts each appliance that you want to run uses and how many hours it operates in a day. Once we know how much electricity you use, we can offer system sizing recommendations. Without knowing that kwh number, we will not be able to provide recommendations with any accuracy.

Yes, the math for figuring all this stuff out can be somewhat confusing since it involves numbers that most people never really think about. The important numbers that can be read off the appliances are listed as volts, amps or watts. Everything in the US runs of 120 or 240 volts. Electric dryers and large power tools often use 240 VAC, but most everything else uses 120 volts. You may see the voltage written as 110 or 117 volts also; it's the same difference just a different way of rounding the number off.

All appliances are required to list one of these three units. If the appliance only lists amps then you are ok because you know you can multiply that by 120 volts to get the watts. A kilowatt is 1000 watts and the amount of time you use a specific appliance is the number of hours. For example if you run a computer that uses 150 watts for one hour you have used 150-watt hours. After you run that computer for 1000 hours you have used 150,000-watt hours or 150 kilowatt (kWh). We will also want information about your peak load or peak power consumption which is also listed on your electric bill or can be found by adding up the wattages of every single load.