[xkcd] Physics will make you rich!

supercheesecake@aussie.zone to Science@beehaw.org – 153 points –
Solar Panel Placement
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Is it true that you can get 4kwh per day per square meter? My average electricity consumption is ~15kwh/day, so if I can potentially offset most of my grid usage with just 4 square meters of solar panel, that seems very attractive. I live in a tropical country btw.

No, 4kwh is about the daily amount of sun hitting 1 square meter. Solar panels can capture about 20% of that

Each of my panels has a theoretical capacity of 390 Watts per hour. So 4kwh in a day seems very feasible. My panels are certainly not the cutting edge of technology!

Your 390W is if the sun is in the zenith and hitting your panel at right angle. Also, are you sure your panel is 1m^2?

Fair point about the size of my panels. I think they are larger than 1m^2!

Over the past year I'm averaging about 1.1 kwh per day per square meter on my system.