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Answer by tina
c.crane company look it up online

Answer by Bob
You can run a 60 watt light bulb when the sun is shining. Or your can charge a battery and then run the 60 watt light bulb at night. It theory if you had 8 hours of sun you would be able to run the bulb for 8 hours off of battery. In reality because of losses you will not get 8 hours of bulb running time.

Answer by f100_supersabre
There are many on the web charts on stipulations for home/business.

60 watts at 12 volts is 6 watts at 120 volts with 100% conversion.
MOST inverters are only 30-60% efficient, plus battery losses. (Batteries are required to “balance” load and for when sun is NOT shining.)

MOST TV’s draw 120 volts at about 500 watts

MOST homes these days are wired for 100 amps at 240 volts which is 24,000 watts even though they seldom draw this much at any given time.
A single standard home circuit is usually 15amps at 120 volts or about 1,800 watts MAXIMUM.

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Answer by Snotalie
you should be able to cut 1/3 off your poweer bill. if you have three you could power you whole home.

Answer by Mr Radio Man
Very little… Windmills do not hardly make enough to power one home. Just use electricity…

Answer by starshyne59
Here’s the link to a map that shows the wind strengths in the US. This will get you started.

http://www.windpoweringamerica.gov/wind_maps.asp

Here is another site with some great information to get you started in your search for wind energy:

http://www.awea.org/faq/rsdntqa.html

The actual energy output will depend on wind strengths and durations in your area. Good luck!

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Answer by sensible_man
Assuming you have good insulation and skirting, I would recommend 60 degrees. If you are not going to be there for 6 months, I would drain the water system, use anti-freeze in the fixture traps and close it up for the time. This is especially true if the home sitting does not grant you to make trips to your own home for long periods.

Answer by Hydroace
To expand on what sensible_man wrote, when you drain the water system, make sure you get it all. If you are on city water, turn off the water at the service entrance (your water department might help with this), if you are on a well turn off power to the pump and drain the pressure tank. Turn off your hot water tank so it remains cold, then drain the water from it.Open the hot and cold faucets in the home and let them drain back through the hot water tank (you left the drain open, right?); open the lowest spigot in the to grant water to drain out of the cold water supply lines.
If you have a water softener, the huge tank with salt in it should be OK, but you might want to disconnect the resin tank (the tall, skinny tank) and drain it. Remove any cartridge filter in the supply line and drain it before reassembling it. Try to make sure you get the water drained out of all the plumbing systems – even the any dehumidifier reservoirs or humidifiers, decorative fountains, etc. Flush the toilets and make sure the holding tanks are empty. Go to an RV supply home (= Recreational Vehicle) and get some anti-freeze to put in the plumbing traps – your toilet(s), kitchen sink, lavatory sink(s), and laundry room sink all have traps in them.
Now close the drain to the hot water tank, and turn the thermostat off. If you are gone from the home for 6 months, something as easy as a power outage might knock your furnace out, and it might not restart even when the power comes back on. You will save a bit more money without heat, and your trailer will be truly winterized. Good luck with it.

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Answer by roderick_young
$ 40 a month recommends that this Television is on a lot. It is your lifestyle to have it on regardless of whether anyone is watching? If so, changing that habit would be the biggest moneysaver.

Powering the Television from batteries would not be cost-effective given that you have grid electricity already. The kind of solar that might save money (and even then, depends on your location) would be grid-tied solar, that powers your home in general, and the Television as part of that. Grid-tied usually involves a huge up-front investment, which you get back after 5, 10, 15 or more years in saved electricity. You would need to check with some local solar installers if that is the route you want to take.

If your goal is to save money immediately, your only option is to conserve.

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Answer by Ronald
First of all what is the time duration will your Television be switched ‘ON’? This will determine the amount of Battery you need.
Secondly, what voltage your Television runs on? This will determine the DC to AC converter you need.
Thirdly, since you are running on battery, the size and output of the panel only matters in the amount of batteries you have and how fast you want to charge them. For my, I will advocate Solar Laminates instead of panels.

Answer by roderick_young
If your power costs 20 cents per kWh, then that means the Television consumes 40/0.2 = 800 kWh per month. That would mean that the Television is on for 2400 hours a month, which cannot be right, as there are only about 720 hours in a month. Maybe your electricity costs more, but even with the Television on 24/7, this doesn’t make sense.

That recommends to me that you are blaming the wrong thing – look for some other thing in your home hogging a lot of power. You can purchase a thing called a Kill-a-Watt meter to monitor how much an individual appliance is using. Or, the cowboy way is to just go to your service panel, flip breakers on and off one at a time, and see which one makes your electric meter slow down and speed up. Then find out what is on that circuit.

I’m a huge fan of solar, but do not want to see you waste your money when the problem can be solved by other means. Solar is great in the right location, but only after the home itself is made as efficient as possible first.

Answer by thebax2006
You want to save money? Get rid of the cable or satellite provider! That is got to be at least $ 100/month!

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Answer by dpepperdrinker
use flourescent light bulbs. Take colder showers. I always begin out with a hot shower but gradually turn it cooler by the end of my shower its usually cold. I live in a hot climate though. Use washer and dryer just once a week. Block the windows in the summer. I move furniture in front of one window that was making the apt warm. Keep thermostat high and turn it off in mild months.

Answer by Bill
Checkout this easy step by step guide by earth4energy.

http://www.create-your-own-energy.com/

They show you loads of tips and tricks that you can do around the home to save energy.

Theres also a large section for those who want to power their own appliances, and show you how to setup easy solar panels and wind turbines in your home and garden to help save energy.

Check it out now –
http://www.create-your-own-energy.com/

Answer by m
Showers not too long. Turn lights off in rooms, fan heaters instead wear warm clothes, extra spencer, heat thermo socks.

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Answer by Fireball226
hire someone to help…see yellow pgs

Answer by tt
Energy INDEPENDENT? Your home is not properly equipped if it’s already built. Also, solar panels are more than a tiny expensive. Plus, they are not the only way that you can produce/save energy.

You’d need an efficiently insulated home to prevent energy/heat loss, you’d have to switch appliances to low energy useage appliances, switch your heating options to radiant rather than forced hot air (more cost effective)..among other things.

Going out and layering your rooftop with thousands of dollars worth of solar panels is also not going to help much in, say, the dark.

Answer by Madam Salami – eco momma
Try joining http://www.justfortheloveofit.org
It’s a freeconomy site, the idea is that people use their skills to help out people they do not know for free. (and make new friends) I know that in my area there are some people with astonishing skills including solar energy installers. Join and see if there is anyone who can help you.
If there is not an installer there is bound to be someone with knowledge to help you further.

Sorry to send you some where else and not give you any answers myself, but it might help!

Spread the freeconomy goodness.

Bright Blessings.

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Answer by Ryan
These are some really good green energy links. check them out

Answer by Kim-chi
Heat does not affect how much a solar panel absorbs. It matters on how much sunlight there are during the day. Also, the amount of cloudy days is also a factor. Your home also must be faced towards the south to maximize the about of sunlight you get during the day.
Other ways to be eco-friendly is to install a wind turbine for wind energy. A windy location would be preferred for this. There are many other smaller ways to be eco-friendly like buying a treadmill/bike that runs on the power you generate.

Answer by Danimal
2 more years….. photovoltaic panels will be history like cassette tapes

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Answer by shimnasazeez
u need a solar panel and a battery and supply electricity from the battery to the air condition system
get help from a technician

Answer by thomas p
A material question is not only how; but, is there a technical support team in your metropolitan area. I am assuming that cost is not a factor in your case. What would be the cost of a residential conversion to total solar? I do not know. It is point of concern to me. My view would be that the cost would be high because there is no economies of scale in this emerging field.

Answer by Eco_Dave_011
Depending on your location, the size of your home and cooling capacity of your central A/C unit it might be hard to covert 100% of the power use of your central A/C to solar. Not to mention very expensive.

Now if you have a 2,500 sq-ft home and use a 3 ton standard A/C unit at 16 EER it could draw as much as 25amps at 220v you would need about 5.5KW of PV plus a massive battery bank to handle surges at (start up, blower, ect.) 250w PV panels are about $ 1000 each and figure about 2x the PV costs for batteries, inverter, installation, wiring, ect. You can see how this gets costly quickly.

Living in different part of the US might require even more PV panels. Plus, you will need to put the PV panels on a tracking system (a mount that tilts the panels to be perfect aligned with the sun’s path) There are always cloudy days, so if the humidity is not too bad you can hopefully shut the A/C off and credit your electric bill by turning your electric meter backwards.

A superior option might be to sell your central A/C and replace it with a heat pump system. A heat pump uses the ground temperature to cool and heat. It might seem more complex but is rather easy can be far less costly than a full blown PV system. The heat pump can run 24/7 cooling or heating as needed and can provide 4 times the amount of energy they consumes.

Dept of Energy Heat Pump information

http://www.eere.energy.gov/consumer/your_home/space_heating_cooling/index.cfm/mytopic=12610

Hope that answers some of your questions!

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I want to for the environment and for my pocket book!

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Answer by metsgal31
buy energy star appliances, install energy saving windows that keep heat in etc..

http://www.alliantenergygeothermal.com/stellent2/groups/public/documents/pub/phtv_se_000498.hcsp

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