Solar Vs Wind Energy

The price to install solar panels,or wind turbines can be costly but most states have incentives along with tax breaks for those whom would like to use renewable energy. Now why would they do this well obviously as our population grows more and more with every passing year the demand for energy has begun to put more and more stress on our energy grid and the methods which we use today are not environment friendly to produce the energy which we all use everyday. Most people neglect to think of what all that energy they are using does to our environment over the long term, so many people now are beginning to install their own sources of energy which in turn could very well totally eliminate your entire need for energy by fully powering your home.

Most will go with a small wind turbine with enough solar energy to make up the difference what the wind turbine(s) don't produce on their own with a little extra to spare as most will have batteries that will store the excess energy.

First thing you need to ask yourself is do you want your home to be “on the grid” or “off the grid” by this they mean will you be tied to the main energy grid that runs within your area. Which normally speaking you want to be on the grid so that if you do run into too many cloudy days you won't be without electricity that and the cost to totally setup an “off the grid” system can be much higher so for the purpose of this comparison I will be comparing Solar panels that are tied to the national energy grid.

Solar being one of the more popular sources of energy next to power due to its limited space requirements has made it the preferred way of producing your own energy however it is usually combined with wind turbines where possible. Solar is primarily best used in the summers where there are a lot of bright sunny days. The major problem with solar is if its cloudy you will more than likely unless its thick cloud cover still produce energy but nowhere close to the amount you would produce on a bright sunny day.

We’ll assume that an average day solar panels generate their maximum power for a 5 hour time span. Using solar electricity, means that what you would be powering things like your refrigerator, lights, computer, TV, stereo, and other average house hold items. Now lets average that running everything your normally would within your house uses approx 600 watts on average. Over 24 hours, you would need roughly 600 watts * 24 hours within a day= 14,400 watt hours per day.

We know that a solar panel can generate 70 milliwatts per square inch * 5 hours of gathering max rays from the sun = 350 milli watt hours per day. Based on these calculations you will need 41,000 square inches of solar panel for your house. Which means yoursolar panel would need to measure about 285 square feet.

Example: What size system is needed to produce 20kwh/day?

20kwh/5h = 4kilowatts

4kw x 1.43 (This is to account for energy loss due to friction heat etc)= 5.7kw

5.7kw system would be required to produce 20kwh/day assuming 5 peak sun hours

Now the average house hold as you saw above only using about 15 KWh/day however by getting a 20 kwh/day system it will help prevent you not producing enough electricity.

One of the more popular sources of energy next to solar. Wind power is best in the fall winter and spring and will produce a decent amount of energy year around however is offset by the space requirements to have a sizable wind generator and turbine setup however they do have smaller versions for more residential uses. Wind is used nation wide and primarily in the western side of the states where the wind is more consistent. One of the things that is great about wind power is whereas solar may not produce much during storms although wind is greater during storms and therefore the wind turbines you have setup will help produce even more energy than on a normal day and will help offset any loss of energy that is lacking from your solar panels

Based on the Above formula on how much electricity you would need to produce you would need a system that costs Approx $20,000 to reduce your energy bill 50-90 percent. The reason it is difficult to totally eliminate your energy bill with wind energy is simply the wind is not always blowing and therefore would not produce you no energy which is where you would either need to use power from the grid/your utility company or have another method for producing electricity like solar panels.

One of the many other concerns is how much noise it makes many think it will be overpowering however it would be no louder than a washing machine and will not interfere with your TV reception.

Combining for best efficiency you could potentially produce enough energy for both your home and have excess that could be sold back to the utility companies although don't have such a large setup thinking you can make a fortune selling energy back as in most cases the amount that you get per kilo-watt is low to the point that it is not worth it to attempt to make money from. It is best to just have enough produced to power your home and keep your batteries topped off.

So lets recap to totally run your home competitive prices on solar would cost a little over $50,000 dollars. To install wind which would cut your costs of electricity down 50%-90% would cost 20,000 dollars installed.

Wind cost of install on average $20,000 to provide 75% of your energy.

Solar Energy Estimates $40,000 dollars to fully power your entire house with a little to spare. Now divide by 2 cause you will only need half of that.

WIND COST=$20,000

SOLAR COST=$20,000

TOTAL COST= $40,000

Total Cost/Approx incentives reduction

$40,000/50%*= $20,000 To fully power your entire house with green electricity.

With an average electric bill of around $125.00 per month you would recoup your investment in around 160 months or around 14 years, this is also not counting any excess electricity you produce and sell back to the utility company. Also keep in mind your doing this to be more green friendly and aid our environment which is a big plus by itself.

*Please note these are only estimates and are subject to vary from state to state year to year but the approx reduction in cost with all incentives included are approx a 50% reduction.