Question by Jacob hmmmmm: Should I get a solar power system or wind turbine to reduce my electrical bill?
I live in west Texas where wind turbines are huge so I am considering either a personal wind turbine or solar system to reduce my electricity bill. The power company says we use 4000kw per month. Which system is best and what model should I consider
Best answer:
Answer by Mike1942f
Because of your location, you have a slight chance of wind being feasible although solar should also work. You need to look at the economics, especially whether you can sell excess back to the power company (not forced by the state in Texas as it is in Wisconsin, as far as I know)
You are not using 4000 kw per month, you might be using 4000 kwh (kilowatt hours) Based on my usage in Dallas (535 in winter), you are using a healthy amount, but you have to be aware that both both wind and solar are going to fail to give full service because if winds dying at night and it going dark. You will have to pay for battery backup or use the Grid as backup. If you are paying a premium summer rate for daytime Air Conditioning power, cutting this down with either one will pay back better than just using average numbers.
Among other things, you need to discover your peak usage (the power company may know this for billing)
What do you think? Answer below!
Try looking into this ebook Earth4Energy shows you the costs and savings
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biire2u says:
September 6, 2011 at 1:30 am (UTC 0)
It depends on which natural energy you get more of. If you live in a windy zone (average 12mph or better winds and long duration)that has consistent winds and you don’t have a lot of trees around ( big open hilly rolling fields are some of the best sites for windmills) , wind power is much better at being able to generate more power with less cost.
But if your area is low wind and hampered by lots of buildings houses and trees around, the cost you would have to spend on getting a tower high enough to access the stabler higher winds would make it prohibitive. Windpower is better from a grid standpoint as you can run a AC generator that synchronizes with the electric companies power so you don’t need batteries or inverters and if you generate more power than you consume, you can sell the power back to the utilities (wholesale rates)
Solar power is best used for heat production rather than electricity . If you are using 4000 kwh a month it sounds like you are an all electric house. Thats a lot of electricity. So if your dryer, hot water heater are electric then solar is the cheapest option for making hot water for your hot water heater and also solar hot air can store its heat in large underground rocks tanks and then the hot air can be piped to either heat your house in the winter or to be piped thru your dryer for clothes.
With 4000 kwh of use , you need some major solar or wind systems. First thing to do is figure out how to conserve some power so you don’t need such big systems. Use ALL compact fluorescent lights or LED lights. They save power two ways, use about 1/6 of the power of regular bulbs , and by producing less heat, saves a lot on your A/C bill. Your air conditioner removes 12,000 BTU’s of heat per ton of air conditioning. There is about 3400 BTU of heat in a Kwh of electricity. So if you are running TV’s , lights, computers, rechargers etc, all those items can produce several thousand BTU’s of heat each day which your A/C has to remove in addition to outside heat.
It is probably most economical to study your use pattern and use a combo of both. Wind for electrical needs and solar heaters for hot air or hot water. But first, lower your consumption, it is the cheapest option.
I don’t own a single incandescent bulb in my house, inside or out. All lights are LED’s and CFL’s. No TV’s larger than 25 inch and power consumption is less than 100 watts.High efficiency refrigerator with extra thick foam andfreezer on bottom. I dry my clothes on a close line, which saves a lot of power, and never breaks down and makes clothes last longer. I put timers on all power strips. I had a timer on my water heater (before I went solar) that only came on 2 hours a day ( I warned family what time to take showers if they wanted hot water.)
I even mounted my refrigerator to an outside wall with louvers in the wall that open in winter to allow cold outside air to cool the refrigerator and in the summer all the heat from compression is blown outside instead of in the house…again.. I don’t want to fight the air conditioner. And I use a geothermal heatpump with woodburner backup.
I generally get 350 kwh in the summer and maybe 700 kwh in the winter.
gatorbait says:
September 6, 2011 at 1:44 am (UTC 0)
You will never lower your electric bill by a sufficient amount to save enough to pay for installing a wind or solar electrical generation system in you home.
Yaacov says:
September 6, 2011 at 1:51 am (UTC 0)
Your electricity consumption is very high. Reap the lower hanging fruits first by conserving energy, http://www.solar-energy-for-home.com/saving-energy-at-home.html and by installing a solar hot water heater and a solar pool heater if you have a swimming pool. If you do not sit on at least 1 acre site, forget about a wind turbine. If you do have at least one acre of land, see whether you have enough wind by searching “wind maps” for your region. If you want to zero your electricity consumption you will need a production capacity of 4,000 Kw-H divided by 30 divided by 24 = 5,555 Watts! If everything comes from solar panels you will need roughly 450 square feet of solar panels (!) and it might cost you $ 25,000 or more. Wind will cost no less, and it is a higher maintenance system than solar. A combination of the two has the advantage of mutual back up when there is no sun or when the wind is not blowing