Hello, I’d really appreciate some input on the subject of solar power panels. I’ve ready a lot and I’ve learned a lot in the recent months by Googl’ing and I realize it’s a big undertaking and in order to generate a small amount of KWH it takes a lot of hardware/installation. I’ve been very interested for some time in this subject, not so much for my needs here in California (where my average monthly electrical bill is roughly , even when I run the A/C in my studio from time to time), but more for the time I spend in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where electricity is about 10 times as expensive and where the price per KWH increases every 2 months.
My question is; how realistic would it be to attempt to power a house in Brazil using solar panels? Of course it would be preferable to completely power the house with solar power, though partial solar power would also be helpful. It is hot in Rio 9 months out of the year (sometimes even all year long), and when it’s hot there is plenty of sun. The cost of electricity is so high in Brazil (roughly 6 times higher than the US…and it goes up every 2 months or so) making it unaffordable to run A/Cs for most people.
1. Is there any way that I could run between 3-5 wall A/C units in a house, or one central A/C unit for the whole house (all day and all night) as well as to run the rest of the house’s appliances (fridge, freezer, TVs, computers, lights, etc) using solar panels? I realize I’m asking a lot and I’m not sure how many KWHs it would require to run all of the above-mentioned, but is there a chance it could be done by only using the roof of the house as the resting area for the panels? If so, how much would it cost in hardware/installation to generate that much electricity?
2. I’ve seen solar panel systems on TV shows that apparently generate DC and then it gets converted to AC and then something else happens so that it can be used directly for the house…and when there is an excess of electricity, it feeds that solar-generated electricity back into the city electricity which turns back your meter. I have also seen systems that have battery arrays that are charged from the solar panels and then the house is run off of the batteries. Which of these 2 methods is best? (In my case, there may be one month where we’re not at the house and one month where we are…could the "off months" be used to store generated electricity?)
3. Does anybody know if it would be better to seek to purchase solar panels in Brazil, or cheaper to import them from another country?
4. Has anyone heard of the SolCool Solar-Powered A/C? http://www.inhabitat.com/2007/07/16/solc… could this be a solution for those of us seeking to power A/Cs from solar panels?
Thank you for taking your time to read this. Looking forward to your answers!
