| Solar and electricity calculations |
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Thinking about how much energy you use in kWh / day? The average kWh / day for Australian households is around 22 kWh / day but a number of Sustainable Jamboree participants have got their's down under 10 kWh / day. Not sure whether to get solar hot water before getting grid connected solar PV panels (photovoltaic panels)? Did you know that solar hot water (or a heat pump) by far beats solar PV panels on energy saved per dollar? Hoping you'll earn money on your energy bill when you get PV? As a general guide a 1 kilowatt system should generate roughly 4 kWh / day.
Here are some great weblinks to help you research these issues more thoroughly before you make your decisions about the best bang for your buck when saving energy. How to work out your kWh / day using your energy meter (24 hr activity): http://www.csiro.au/helix/sciencemail/activities/energyuse.html
A range of resources and fact sheets from the Clean Energy Council: http://www.bcse.org.au/cec/resourcecentre/factsheets.html
Fast facts about generating your own electricity and how much you could earn: http://www.ecobuy.org.au/uploads/documents/Solar%20Sunwerx%20Solar%20Power%20FAQs.pdf
A guide to buying solar hot water from the Alternative Technology Association: http://www.ata.org.au/publications/solar-hot-water-plan-your-own-solar-hot-water-system
A guide to buying solar panels from the Alternative Technology Association: http://www.ata.org.au/renew/renew-101-solar-panel-buyers-guide or http://www.ata.org.au/publications/solar-electricity-plan-your-own-electricity-system
CHOICE solar panels buying guide: http://www.choice.com.au/Reviews-and-Tests/Household/Energy-and-water/Solar/Solar-panels-counting-the-cost/Page.aspx
CHOICE solar hot water buying guide: http://www.choice.com.au/Reviews-and-Tests/Household/Energy-and-water/Solar/Solar-hot-water-systems/Page/Solar%20hot%20water%20systems.aspx
If you want to know how much you might earn from a PV panel, it depends...
If you go with the Qld Govt feed-in-tariff system (solar bonus scheme), here's what they say:
"Customers participating in the scheme will be paid 44 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh) for surplus electricity fed into the grid—more than double the current general domestic use tariff of 18.84c/kWh (inc GST as at 1 July 2009). The average consumer operating a 1 kilowatt (kW) solar system could save up to 25 per cent on their electricity bill by using electricity generated by the PV system and from payments received from the Solar Bonus Scheme."
See also: http://www.cleanenergy.qld.gov.au/solar_bonus_scheme.cfm |
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