Using
the calculator is quite simple. At the
front page, put in your zip code. You
will be sent to a page to enter some basic information about your home, such as
the date that it was built, the amount of livable square footage, and the types
of energy used. After filling out the
appropriate slots on that page, click Save Answers. This will take you to another page that has
links to various aspects about a home, such as water heater, lighting,
etc. The calculator will also assign you
a Session ID number, which you should write down on the activity sheet (the
number is found next to the Calculate button).
Clicking on each on of these factor links will allow you to personalize
the information about your home, such as what type of air conditioner you have
and what are your temperature settings.
After you have visited a link, the page will place a blue dot by that
link to tell you that you have already filled in that information.
When you
are all done with the factors, click the Calculate button. The server will then take some time (usually
20 seconds) to calculate the usage in your home and to present the information
back to you in the form of a bar graph with dollar amounts for using the
different components in your home.
Information about the amount of electrical energy used can be received
by clicking on the “Compare” tab on the top of the page, and then “Details”
underneath “Compare”. This will open a
new window that contains the information.
Use this information to fill in the activity sheet below.
Now that
we have the approximate electrical energy usage per year, we are prepared to
investigate the economics of using solar or wind energy in your present
location. Let us start with solar
energy. Use the annual solar radiation
map from the National Renewable Energy Labs (https://www.nrel.gov/gis/assets/images/solar-annual-ghi-2018-usa-scale-01.jpg) to find out the average amount of
solar energy that strikes a 1-m2 solar panel at your current
location. Enter this value on the
activity sheet and then multiply it by 365 days in order to calculate Average Annual
Solar Energy (AASE) that is striking the surface in a year. Since most standard solar panels are only
about 12% efficient, this number needs to be divided by 8 in order to calculate
the Average Annual Solar Panel Output (AASPO) a 1-m2 solar panel per
year in your area. If this number is
then divided into the total amount of electrical energy needed for you home,
you will have estimated the area of solar panels that you need to meet your
electrical needs for the year. Using
current price estimates (they vary quite a bit, but $800/sq meter is a good average)
for solar panels then allows you to calculate the price of putting in solar
panels.
After
finishing filling in this data, answer the questions on the activity
sheet. On the last question, you will be
asked to re-visit the calculator to make changes in your home.