How do you calculate solar energy usage?

3. Multiply your daily energy usage by the percentage of your power bill you want to cover with solar. If you want to cover half of your power bill, for instance, you’d multiply your daily energy usage by 50%. This gives you an estimate of how much energy your solar system needs to produce on an average day.

How do you calculate solar system inefficiencies?

Multiply your solar system size by 1.2 to cover system inefficiencies. There are inefficiencies in any solar system due to factors like shading and soiling. So this step is a simple way to try to account for system losses. So, in this example, you’d need a 3 kW solar system to meet half of your daily energy needs.

How do I use a solar calculator?

Enter the value for your location into the solar calculator. The solar map uses insolation, a measure of solar radiation energy received on a given surface area in a given time. This is typically measured in kilo-watt hours per square meter per day (kWh/m2/day). The map shows the average daily total solar radiation throughout the United States.

How do I use the energy consumption calculator?

Select an appliance from the list or enter one manually. If you select an appliance from the list, the calculator will estimate the power usage of the chosen appliance, and if the appliance operates on a duty cycle, the calculator will take that into consideration when calculating its energy consumption.

How do I calculate kWh per month?

You can find this number in your power bill. For instance, if you look at your last 3 power bills and see that you use, on average, 600 kWh per month, you’d enter “600” and then select “kWh per month” as your timeframe. 3. Optional: Select your roof pitch from the list.