As we all know solar panels can capture the sunlight and convert the sun’s energy into electricity for us to use. I made a post about penn state’s green roof last week. There are 4 buildings on campus, with 84,200 sq. ft. of green roofs in total. Actually, solar panels can be installed among vegetation to create more efficient green roofs.
Assume half of the penn state’s green roof installed solar panels, then we got about 42000 sq. ft. of solar panels.
According to datas from the internet, the average an exceptionally powerful solar panel is around 345 W. And the average panel conversion efficiency is about 12%.
The average of daylight can be used to providing energy for solar power in Pittsburgh is 3 hours per day. So let’s assume we have the same.
Sun hours per day x System efficiency x Rated power x area x 365 = kWh per year
3 x 12% x 345w x 42,000sq. ft. x 365 days = 1,903,986 =about 1,900,000 kWh per year.
The average residential electricity rate in State College is 7.46¢/kWh
Therefore if my calculation is correct, our school can save 1900000 x 7.46 = 14,174,000¢ = $141,740 per year!
We can see using solar energy on campus can save a money. Since it is also a renewable, sustainable energy, which is also environmentally friendly.
http://solarpowerauthority.com/how-much-does-it-cost-to-install-solar-on-an-average-us-house/
http://pureenergies.com/us/how-solar-works/solar-panel-output/
photo from http://www.greenrooftechnology.com
Solar energy is a wonderful thing, and as you calculated, it can save so much money on energy! Also, it’s less wasteful to the Earth’s natural resources. I think solar power is one of the most underrated ways to get clean, monetarily efficient power. And wind power!
I had no idea that Penn State actually used that much solar energy. When I was in Hawaii there were tons of examples of sustainable energy. This is because their environment is conducive to using certain energies like solar and wind. According to current results.com Maui recieves about 270 days of sun per year as opposed to the 170 days that State College receives per year. So, when we are calculating sustainability we need to take environmental factors into consideration.