Editor’s note: This question was asked in response to Electronics Cooling’s recent webinar by Roger Stout. To view the webinar, click here.
Question: You said your 5 kW solar panels have produced more power than you’ve used in your electric car, but not more than your dome house. How much of your house energy consumption did they produce?
Answer: Good question! The 5 kW solar panels have produced, over 2-1/2 years, 38% of my household energy consumption (not including the electric car). Also remember, this dome house uses roughly only half the total energy of a similar sized conventional house. A huge benefit of the dome construction is the thermal mass of the dome. It naturally “load shifts” to the off-peak rate hours, which is why my annual energy bill has been cut in half since the panels went into service. My annual on-peak consumption is slightly under 10% if you subtract out the EV energy, and closer to 9% if you include the off-peak EV charging. Even before I installed the solar panels, my on-peak energy consumption was only 12.5%.
-Roger Stout
