Have you ever wondered how much electricity you could produce from solar? In this article, we’ll walk through how to calculate the amount of solar power you could technically generate on your roof, as well as why our calculations aren’t all that helpful for any single homeowner.
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Small solar panels: what are your options?
There are many solar products available beyond the traditional 60 or 72-cell panels used for rooftop, ground-mounted, commercial, and utility-scale solar panels. For solar shoppers looking for small solar panels, we’ll walk through some of the options available.
Continue readingAdding a battery to your solar energy system as a retrofit
The market for home energy storage options like the Tesla Powerwall has taken off in recent years, and costs are falling quickly. Many homeowners and businesses are thinking about adding a battery backup to their solar panel system.
The benefits of a home battery can be significant, especially if you have solar: you can use more solar energy onsite, or save it to use as backup power in the event that the grid goes down. If you are on time-of-use (TOU) rates for your electricity or pay monthly demand charges, you can even save money by using power from your battery when rates are high.
Continue readingHow many solar panels do I need for my home?
It’s no use installing just one solar panel–you’ll need more than that to reap the financial benefits of a solar panel system. While the answer isn’t always so simple, we’ve put together some example cases to help you understand, at a high level, how many solar panels you need to install an effective solar array.
Continue readingMast Landing Brewing Company saves money and protects the environment with community solar
Homeowners, renters, and business owners alike can all look to community solar as a way to save energy and protect the environment. For Ian Dorsey, President & CEO of Mast Landing Brewing Company, community solar was the perfect solution to a long-term desire for his company: to reap the environmental and financial benefits from solar without an upfront financial investment that a small craft brewery can’t afford.
Continue readingSolar monitoring systems: Enphase vs. SolarEdge
A solar monitoring system can help you evaluate your PV system’s performance. It offers information about energy consumption and generation, optimizing energy usage, and damage to your solar system, among other data. It’s important to monitor your solar setup in some manner – without monitoring, it can be difficult to figure out if your solar panels are operating at the level they should be.
Continue readingEVs vs. ICEs: which is better for the environment?
Electric vehicles (EVs) promise a cleaner transportation future – but just how true is that vision? Let’s take a look at a few European studies comparing EVs to conventional internal combustion engine (ICE) cars and let the data speak for itself.
Continue readingUsed solar panels: are they right for you?
Some of the lowest prices for solar equipment can be found on sites like eBay, where people can post their used solar panels for sale a discounted price. In this article, we will look into the used solar panel market, and whether buying panels from a reseller is the best option for your home solar setup.
Continue readingComparing storage capacities of home batteries
The home storage revolution is here, and there are plenty of options when it comes to home batteries that you can install. In this article, we’ll talk about battery capacity – what it is, why it matters (or doesn’t), and how battery models stack up against one another.
Continue readingBuilding-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV): what you need to know
When you think of solar, rooftops or open fields with panels generating renewable electricity probably come to mind. However, solar products have evolved – and now, there are many options available under the umbrella of “building-integrated photovoltaics”, or BIPV. BIPV products merges solar tech with the structural elements of buildings, leading to many creative and innovative ways to generate solar electricity.
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