Solar Energy...is it possible to power a home in Portland, OR or Vanc, BC?

[masmdu]

Thinking of moving to either Portland OR or Vancouver or Vancouver Island, BC.

Once there we'd like to use solar for electrical needs...Is it possible in these locations to generate enough power for a family of four in a modest home (1800-2000 SF)?

I am an alternative energy novice...how big of a system is needed?

Thanks in advance!

[supernova]

1. not an expert

but IIRC for solar to be viable, you have to have so many days of sunshine/year in your area. I forget what that number is.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

2. Try posting this in the Oregon state forum

I wasn't a homeowner when I lived there, but I recall seeing a lot of solar panels.

[Sanity Claws]

3. Good question

I live in Seattle and had a friend who lived Port Townsend (Olympic Peninsula). There were some houses out there that had solar panels. Don't know whether they had back up energy sources, though.

[A HERETIC I AM]

4. Think Wind instead.

You might have better production with a modest windmill but you would have to check the zoning laws to see if there are any restrictions on windmills in residential areas. You have piqued my curiosity on the matter. Off to Google!

[A HERETIC I AM]

9. HERE WE GO! Check out this map and website:

Tells the relative effectiveness of solar panels over the lower 48 states.

From this website;
http://www.mrsolar.com/

Check out the FAQ page. Lots of info there. Also info on wind power systems.

[rzemanfl]

5. From my limited experience there, it might be better to build a

tank on your roof to catch the rain and use it to run a water wheel.

[Sanity Claws]

10. And when the barrell collapses from all the rain,

the rain will just wash your house clean. Kind of like killing two birds with one stone.

[rzemanfl]

12. Yeah, but you'll be out drinking coffee somewhere anyway. n/t

[Sanity Claws]

13. Or busy hugging a tree.

[rzemanfl]

15. Don't spill your coffee while your arms are around the tree. n/t

[GreenPartyVoter]

6. Well, it cand be done in Maine: see link

http://solarhouse.com/

[Al-CIAda]

7. Vancouver has 14-16 hor days if I am not mistaken. Very pretty too.

[Trillo]

8. There are computer programs written that tell you how many

square feet of solar PV panels are needed. Data you would need to supply would include your electrical energy usage over 12 months, and latitude is also needed for the program to output results.

Some sales reps have these computer programs, but beware with any salesperson. You don't always get what you ask for. With some, you do.

Perhaps the computer programs are available somewhere for download.

On edit: Some PV solar catalogs have charts with conversion factors so you can estimate some of this yourself. Local normal cloudcover probably also affects PV cells output.

[peacebird]

11. we want to use solar to power our home near Charlottesville, va

but the only contractor we can find (yellow pages) 9s so overbooked he won't return our calls...

[sendero]

14. The thing...

.... many don't understand about solar electricity is that you can't just set up a normal house with A/C, electric stove, dryer and stuff like that.

Different appliances use vastly different amounts of electricity. Anything that produces heat from electricity will probably not be useful with a solar system.

It isn't just as simple as "buy a solar electric system and unplug from the grid", to set up a system that would power a "typical" suburban home would cost $100,000 plus.

[doubleplusgood]

16. Portland home got 75% from solar

I went on a tour of solar homes in Portland a few years back & saw a house in the Laurelhurst neighborhood that got about 75% of its annual power from the sun. (They were still hooked into the grid). The owners had a small detached garage upon which they covered the south-facing part of the roof with photovoltaic panels. That, along with switching to compact fluorescent & other energy-efficient appliances produced the results.

Check out www.ases.org (American Solar Energy Society) for more info.