Energy Savings - Free Home Solar Data for Hot Water and Solar PV
- Free Data on Energy Saving using Solar Home micro generation of Electricity and Solar Hot Water.
- We generate free electricity with PV Solar and we save money
- We generate free hot water with Solar Thermal - during the summer we use little gas.
- See my day by day figures on solar energy saving for electricity and hot water usage.
- Now revealed the true benefit of energy saving using solar panels and solar energy systems.
- How much solar power is really produced on a daily basis for a home system?
- Home solar PV system performance Average April 2012 Elec 3.8 kWH per day 5 x 1mx1.6m panels Approx saving 25% on last year (See latest figures)
- Home solar hot water performance Average April 2012 Hot Water 48.0°C 2 panels Saving 66% on last year
- System Based in Hemel Hempstead England N51°
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Like most people we are finding the costs of Gas and Electricity increasing. We are lucky enough to live in a South facing direction, so in August 2010 we had Solar Hot Water put into the house. It proved very sucessful even in the winter months so in June 2011 we have had 5 PV solar panels added. On this site you will find out some of the infomation that we have learnt about solar electricity and water. 
You can also find out what you need to know about both solar thermal and PV panels before having them installed. There are also day by day readings to give you an idea of how much energy we are saving and how this might help you. We live in a south facing terraced house in Hemel Hempstead. I don't work for any solar company, I just thought some real figures might balance out "manufactured" figures..
July Total 142.8 Below average sunshine
Aug Total 113.1 Well below average sunshine (75%)
Sept Total 110.9 Below average sunshine for beginning of the month
Oct Total 87.0
Nov Total
35.2
Dec Total 31.2
Jan 2012 Total 38.8
Feb 2012 Total 59.4
March Total 112.1
April Total 113.4
From the graphs we can show that the Solar Hot Water systems is highly effective and has reduced the amount we spend on Gas (we have a gas boiler), in the summer to almost nothing - we cook on gas and this is our only spending. In the winter we need to use the bioler for heating. Solar Thermal will not provide heating for the radiators.
The Solar electric more expensive to buy, easier to install, but you need a much bigger system to reap any benefits. We are a big user of electricity. I have gadgets for everything.
See the graphs on how much we are saving on Gas and Electricity How much electricity are we saving? How much gas are we saving?
We hope to find the truth behind all the fantastic claims for household investment in solar energy in Britain. Naturally the advertising and the sales talk is all very positive and Government grants and feed-in tariffs certainly help.
How much sense does domestic solar power really make in the UK?
We thought the sums made sense and so invested in two roof-top generator panels - one for hot water and one for electricity. Now we are finding out just how much money we are really saving.
Alice reports solar energy generation results daily for both solar hot water and solar electricity in a normal English family 3 bedroom terraced house in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire - Mum Dad and two large teenage boys.
Follow Alice to see just how much solar power is generated on our modest sized roof.
As we have several computers, we decided first to link our solar systems on the roof to a PC indoors and collect the results each day. We plan soon to make a bluetooth link which will be able to publish them live to the Alice website.
We invite others who have made the investment and wish to know more about the energy they are creating and could create to contact us and share results. We'd like to publish results from other parts of the country
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