Estimating your off-grid farm electricity consumption and knowing what are the factors that affect it the most is essential for designing an efficient and reliable off-grid electricity system. Unlike grid-tied systems, off-grid systems must generate and store all the electricity needed for the farm consumption.
Knowing what your electricity consumption is the first and most important step on the way to saving energy. Estimating our electricity consumption helps to understand how much each of our actions and appliances consume and where we can cut on use to save on energy consumption. In addition the estimation of the consumption is essential in order to adjust the right size ,which will determine the amount of electricity produced, of the system that must be installed so that at least satisfy our consumption and allow us to maintain the integrity of the system over time.
The whole idea is to calculate how much we use each device, minutes or hours per day, and how much it consumes or in other words The power per hour (Wh), the value we want to know for each device and that should be compared. This task very easy to complete if you lived in the last year in grid tied system house where you had to pay electricity bills and there you have all the information about your consuming habits, you just need to collect your 12 bills and to note the total KWh consumed each month, sum the total KWh from the 12 months and divide by 12 to get your average monthly consumption.
Identify seasonal patterns to check if there are seasonal variations in your electricity usage. Some households use more energy during summer or winter due to air conditioning, heating, or other seasonal appliances.
In case you don't have any electricity bills but still want to calculate your electricity consumption follow the next steps:
Consider Appliance Usage
Make a list of the devices in your home (e.g., refrigerator, air conditioner, heating systems, water heater, washing machine, etc.)
Check the power rating (in watts) of each device and estimate the average daily usage in those appliances in hours.
The power rating of an electrical appliance, expressed in watts, indicates the rate at which the appliance consumes electrical energy. In simpler terms, it tells you how much power the device needs to operate.
In order to make it easier for us, the manufacturers of the devices have already calculated the instantaneous power of each device, and it appears on the label of the technical specifications behind or under the device. For example, an electric kettle is around 2000W, while an incandescent bulb is around 80W. But a good electric kettle boils two glasses of water in two minutes more or less, and an incandescent bulb works for hours continuously.
You should know that the power rating written on the device is usually the logical maximum power of the device. Even so 2000W is written on the kettle, the power apparently varies slightly with the amount of water the kettle needs to heat.
Now, try to calculate for each device how long it works in an average day. It can be said, for example, that the bedroom lights work about two hours a day, while the kitchen lights work 6-7 hours a day. An electric kettle works 20 minutes a day, and the computer takes about four hours a day, and so on. For the meticulous among us you can measure with timer the working time of each device
After you have calculated the working hours of each device, calculate the cumulative power by multiplying the power by the working time,
An 80W incandescent bulb that works 7 hours a day consumes 80*7 which is 560Wh.
An electric kettle that is rated at 2000W, and works for about 20 minutes a day, consumes about 2000*1/3, which is 660Wh.
Calculate total load - all that remains to know the general consumption in one day is to sum up the power per hour, that is the "consumption", of all the devices. To know the monthly consumption just double it in 30 (number days in month).
It is important to remember that the assessment by definition is not accurate, but it is an important step in awareness of correct electricity consumption.
And even more important is the understanding that we can save up to 30% consumption just with good planning and self educating.
without making far-reaching changes: a solar water heater saves the electric water heater, good insulation saves cooling/heating expenses, a skylight and natural lighting will save the use of artificial lights during daylight, LP lamps consume one-fifth of incandescent lamps and a laptop consumes one-fifth of a desktop computer and this is before we "went crazy" and started cooking in solar oven or heating our water inside a pile of compost.
Educate ourselves not to use devices that consume a lot of energy at night when our system relies on solar panels, replace our devices with more efficient energy devices, using a gas kettle instead of electric kettle and more.
Summary
Once you have a good estimate of your off grid farm electricity consumption, you can explore different energy systems and determine the most efficient option that fits your wishes and abilities.
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