How many Kilowatts?...

Finding out just how may Kilowatts you consume requires no special equipment or skill. In fact, you may already have the necessary tools (a pencil, a calculator and last years electric bills) at hand. Let’s find out just how much power you are going to need from your solar system by figuring out what you already use.

The easiest way is to gather your electric bills from the past year, add up the Total Kilowatt hours then divide by 12.

OR

Total Kilowatt Hours (12 months) ¸ 12= Avg. monthly power requirement It is now a simple matter to select the kit that will supply all your electrical needs

What is your daily power usage?
One easy method of calculating power consumption (Kilowatt hours or kWh) is to combine the wattage of all electrical appliances and devices in your home, then multiply by the number of hours of operation then divide by 1000.

OR

Electrical Device X Usage (in hours) / 1000= kWh(Kilowatt hours)

Typical Home Appliance Power Consumption

 
Really loud guitar                      6000 W
 
Clothes dryer                           5000 W
 
Air Conditioner                         2000 W
 
Microwave                               1500 W (for short periods)
 
Pool pump                               1000 (6 kWh/day, typically)
 
Home Entertainment Center               1000 W
  
Electric Blanket                        400 W
 
Computer and Monitor                    200 W
 
27 inch Television                      170 W
 
Refrigerator (old)                      125 W (aprox. 3 kWh/ day)
 
Refrigerator (energy efficient model)   46 W (aprox. 1.1 kWh/day)
 

Here is how to find the daily energy consumption of an appliance Energy is the amount of work required to get a job done, specified in Watt-Hours (Wh) or Kilowatt Hours (kWh).

Ex., A 100W light bulb left on for six hours draws 6Wh, or 0.6 kWh.


Total household energy usage
Make a list with each appliance calculated like this;

Watts X Hours per Day X Days per Month / 1000 The total should match monthly electrical power bills.

Wattage of electrical device(s) x Usage in hours= Watt Hours (Wh) Finally, Divide Wh by 1000 to find kiloWatt hours.

Watts x Hours= Watt Hours (Wh). Wh / 1000= kilowatt Hours.