I have a house in the Rockford, IL area. It has a flat 30' x 20' south facing roof. I use around 11,000 kWh of electricity per year in my home, at a cost of around 13 cents per kWh total.
I have always thought solar power is pretty cool, but really haven't looked much into it. Just out of curiosity, what would a solar system for my house "look like?" Not in a visual sense, but considering my circumstances, how many panels would fit on my roof? How much electricity could they theoretically produce per year in my area, considering our climate and days of sunshine? What would the major components generally be and how much would they roughly cost? In other words, if you were doing a "back of the envelope" solar project for my home, what components would it have and how much would it cost, roughly? I've always sorta assumed solar in northern IL is a waste of time considering how many cloudy days we have and how far north we are, but I am just curious what some rough numbers would look like.
Yes, I realize I could spend a few hours on the internet looking all this stuff up myself, but I would bet that some of you could throw something together in about 5 minutes, knowing what you know about home solar just off the top of your head.
I have always thought solar power is pretty cool, but really haven't looked much into it. Just out of curiosity, what would a solar system for my house "look like?" Not in a visual sense, but considering my circumstances, how many panels would fit on my roof? How much electricity could they theoretically produce per year in my area, considering our climate and days of sunshine? What would the major components generally be and how much would they roughly cost? In other words, if you were doing a "back of the envelope" solar project for my home, what components would it have and how much would it cost, roughly? I've always sorta assumed solar in northern IL is a waste of time considering how many cloudy days we have and how far north we are, but I am just curious what some rough numbers would look like.
Yes, I realize I could spend a few hours on the internet looking all this stuff up myself, but I would bet that some of you could throw something together in about 5 minutes, knowing what you know about home solar just off the top of your head.