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Does the Square meter of panels make AC or DC? How many volts? I understand watts, but in the real world he would have to have enough panels to make enough amps to convert to 240v AC to run the air conditioner. Using the term "acres" I admit was a flip remark, but a few square meters wont get it either. You have to charge a large bank of batteries to make the current steady and then convert it to AC with very expensive converters that run hot( eg waste energy). I haven't done the math, but am willing to bet you couldn't get 50 amps of 240 AC from 20 8 x10 panels. Just think of the batteries and the converter. Phone company batteries and a converter the size of a refrigerator might get it done. The idea of an absorption AC was a better plan.

If solar worked even close,it would already be on every house. It is a tax credit that runs some light bulbs is about it. Real horsepower still comes off the pole.

There was a self sufficient house experiment in the North East somewhere that got government grants to completely live off the grid and run everything, not just survival type appliances. He took $500k of our tax money and did it, but he had every square inch of roof covered and then went to the yard with more panels. I don't know if it was more than an acre, but it sure looked close. The upkeep on the batteries and converters was enormous. He did however create enough juice to turn the meter backwards much of the night which made him technically "off the grid". IN the real world, however, there was always the rainy overcast snowy days that made him sweat for a few sunny days. All for the low low price of $500K.

The panels produce DC voltage/current. The voltage depends on the panel and how many cells are wired in series. Inverters can be very efficient. Typically around the 96% range. Maintenance on the inverter should be low if designed properly. They have no moving parts other than perhaps a fan and some relays.

http://www.solarelectricalsystems.com/documents/kyocera-kd135gx-lp.pdf

The above panel (a quick Google search) has an area of about 1 meter squared (10.89 square feet) and produces 95W with 800W/m^2 of sunlight. So with 20 8 x 10 panels worth of area (1600 square feet) that would produce just under 14kW with typical direct sun light. To convert that to AC using a 96% efficient inverter the inverter would output about 13.4kW. And yes their are other losses, but you'd have to lose another 10% to get to 12kW AC. You don't need batteries if you don't go off grid.

A typical house can nearly zero out its electricity usage for about $40k of solar equipment. But that's only because of all the subsidies and tax giveaways. Typically those subsidies and tax giveaways amount to about 30% of the cost of the project...

Without those subsidies and tax giveaways the economics of it is very debatable.