Social media, the news and the internet are all full of good hearts who believe cows or soccer balls or solar cells or bicycle generators or ocean, windmill or rain will solve our energy problems and quench our addiction forever. They believe a government investment will change the world. But the science does NOT add up.
Personally I have installed solar panels and sky lights with lead acid batteries in the hopes of generating enough electricity to do something useful. But alas, unless you want to invest the money you will spend in a decade electric bills you can do no more than get a couple of lights and maybe a radio or TV.
Refrigerator? Only if you are very careful, or you have a physical ton of batteries. The newer lithium are lighter but will still take up the space of a bedroom if you want to have a microwave. Forget about a clothes dryer, air conditioner or keeping warm in the winter with solar.
If the roof of a house in New England to the precise angles to catch optimal winter sun how many solar panels will it take to power a microwave for one minute at night?
I have tried to do the math. I hope someone tells me I am wrong, and my mat is all wet, but I believe you would need to devote 50 square feet of solar panel in full winter sunlight for an hour to provide enough power to run a microwave for one minute. If anyone will check my math I would appreciate it.
I commented on a site devoted to living off-the-grid electrically and got lots of angry responses from people who have homes off the grid. But if any of them had air conditioners or electric clothes dryers or microwaves they would not say so directly. And they all lived in the sun belt, not in New England.
mainly depending on how many batteries you buy. I am not talking about five batteries, I am talking about 50 batteries or more….
