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To: Tell It Right

You’ve got me wondering if I could pull this off at my latitude — not so far above yours, but not as sunny during winter either.


58 posted on 09/25/2023 10:00:20 AM PDT by StAnDeliver (TrumpII)
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To: StAnDeliver
This tool https://tsi.tyconsystems.com/html/nrel_lookup.htm for calculating average peak solar hours per day for my area was spot on. For me, the lowest case is December with 3.68 peak solar hours per day and the highest is 5.78 in May.

For each month I compared to my power usage to the related month's peak solar hours to figure out how much solar production I needed to have enough power for an average day. I then multiplied it by 1.10 to add 10% because nothing works as good as advertised. And I also tried to figure out daily habits during the time of day -- in other words how much battery storage I need to power my home at night (on most days).

And don't forget common sense energy savings techniques like caulking gaps and adding insulation and replacing old appliances with more efficient ones. Half the battle is in making your home not need so much energy without reducing your lifestyle.

Last but not least, pay attention to how often you have sunny days during really hot weather (read: need extra power to keep the house cool). And if you go all-electric like I did, how often your really cold winter days are sunny (read: when I need a lot of power to keep the house warm I have free solar power and enough battery storage to last at least half the night, since I don't face really cold weather often enough to warrant trying to be 100% off-grid in the winter).

This is all about figuring out the big battles you need to win (the days you need a lot of power) with the understanding you might still lose the small battles (on rainy and cloudy days the temperature is mild, so I won't pull much from the grid anyway).

59 posted on 09/25/2023 10:26:54 AM PDT by Tell It Right (1st Thessalonians 5:21 -- Put everything to the test, hold fast to that which is true.)
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