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One of the first things homeowners need to consider when deciding whether to install a solar power system for the home is just how many solar panels they need Even a small number of panels will make a big difference when it comes to your monthly electricity bills. Those who would like to forget about their electricity bills completely, though, will want to be precise in terms of how many solar panels they install.

First, you’ll need to determine how much electricity you use in your home per day on average. This can be done by referring to your monthly electricity bills from the recent past. (In some cases, you can find these records online if necessary.) Look at the monthly kilowatt-hour (kWh) electricity use line items, and find the typical monthly total. Your average daily usage can then be determined by dividing this figure by 30.

Another factor to consider is insolation. Insolation is a measurement of the quantity of sunlight which makes contact with a given surface area over time. Solar panels only produce electricity when they come in direct contact with sunlight. Different solar panels have different requirements in terms of sunlight intensity in order to generate power. The intensity and angle at which solar panels are exposed to sunlight on a given surface will vary throughout the year. Even throughout a single day, the amount of sunlight present at any given time can differ. The average exposure for a given location is reflected by its insolation value. Maps displaying insolation values can be found online. Then, divide the daily kWh of electricity from the first step by the insolation value to get the power capacity you’ll need from your system.

The last factor you’ll need to take into consideration is the amount of loss from your solar power system. Although the most recent systems are much more efficient than earlier ones, with any power system, there is always a certain amount of power lost in conversion. This can be difficult to measure accurately, but it’s generally safe to use the figure of 25%, so if you multiply the figure from the previous step (kWh/insolation) by 1.25, you’ll get the amount of power (including loss) that you need. Now you can see how many kWh of energy you need, adjusted for insolation and efficiency.

So, to find out how many solar panels you’ll need, divide that last figure by the kWh output of your solar panel of choice.

One of the initial questions a homeowner faces when choosing on whether to install a home solar power system is, “How many solar panels do I need?” If you want to know the answer to this question, head on to How Many Solar Panels Do I Need?

If you are interested in building your own solar panel, check this step by step by guide Build Solar Panel. A mini course on how to make your own solar power system may also sound appealing to you. Go to Solar Power Calculator to sign-up for a 6 part mini course.

Since the invention of the modern silicon solar cell, the effectiveness of solar cells has improved significantly. The first silicon solar cell was developed by Bell Labs and shown to the public for the first time on April 25, 1954. It had an efficiency of about 6%, meaning that it converted about 6% of the sun’s energy it collected to electricity.

While it may not seem like much, this was actually a major improvement over the previous generation of solar cell, the selenium solar cell. The efficiency rating for selenium solar cells was only about 0.5%.

Solar cell research since then has made a priority of both improving efficiency and decreasing manufacturing costs. It’s proven to be possible, using exotic materials, to produce cells with up to 40% efficiency. Unfortunately, using such materials significantly increases the production cost; these high-performance cells can cost over 100 times more than ordinary 8% efficient cells to produce. In order to encourage the adoption of solar power, reducing production cost is perhaps an even more important objective than improving efficiency.

The sun delivers around 1,000 watts of power per square meter under ideal conditions. This figure is the standard for defining the performance of a specific solar cell. Of course, there are a variety of factors that can impact the intensity of sunlight, such as weather, elevation, pollution, and dust. Certain events, like volcanic eruptions, can even reduce sunlight on a worldwide basis for periods of a year or longer. Low elevation also has a detrimental effect on solar cell efficiency. At higher elevation, the air is thinner, and there’s less dust and pollution between the sun and the solar cells.

At about 14-19% efficiency, multicrystalline solar cells are the most efficient cells currently available. However, this kind of cell is not expected to progress much beyond that point. Much of the current research being done involves amorphous silicon cells, which currently work at about 8% efficiency.

Assuming there aren’t any major gains in solar cell efficiency in the short term, what would it take to replace all fossil fuel-based energy generation in the United States with solar power? A little over 10,000 square miles of land would have to be dedicated to solar panels in order to supply all of the electricity currently produced in the US. Even now, there is enough unused desert in the US to meet this benchmark.

In order to have power even when the sun isn’t out, solar power systems need to involve some form of power storage as well. Many power companies are considering “smart grid” systems involving the use of battery banks to address this issue. Batteries may also represent an answer to the problem of spikes in demand presented by hot days.

Over the last 60 years, solar cell efficiency has increased substantially, from 0.5% to as high as 40%. They are also becoming more affordable, particularly in the last few years.

If you are looking into installing a solar power system, you need to consider the kind of roof panel that you are going to utilize. More information about roof solar panels is available at Roof Solar Panels.

If you are interested in building your own solar panel, check out these step-by-step guides Build Solar Panel and GreenDIY Energy Review.