Whole Energy Solar - About Solar

Solar Factoids:
Each day more solar energy falls to the Earth than the total amount of energy the planet’s 6 billion inhabitants would consume in 4 to 5 years. (1,2)

PV covering an area in the Nevada desert equal to just over half of The Nevada Test Site and the surrounding Nellis Air Force Base could equal the entire electrical consumption of the United States. (2)

In the last 7 years, photovoltaic sales have nearly tripled. More than 125 megawatts of modules were manufactured worldwide in 1997. (3)

According to the Department of Energy, the average Idaho home consumes more than 36 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity per day. (4) — One of the highest in the country.

“If your energy bills are high, you should be able to cut them by 20 to 30 percent without breaking a sweat.” (5)

Federal subsidies for traditional energy supplies—that don’t show up in the price, but are a part of taxes—were estimated to cost $36 billion in 1989, or $390 per household. This doesn’t include the significant environmental costs. (5)

“How long do PV modules last? PV modules last a long, long time. How long we honestly don’t yet know, as the oldest terrestrial modules are barely 30 years old, and still going strong...[W]e may find that lifespans of 60 to 80 years are normal. (2)

1-Solar Energy International. www.solarenergy.org
2-The Real Goods Solar Living Source Book, Eleventh Edition, 2001 pp. 55, 62. www.realgoods.com
3-Department of Energy, Energy Information Administration, “Emissions of Greenhouse Gases in the United States 2001”. www.eia.doe.gov
4-Department of Energy, www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/esr/esrt01p1.html, accessed 2/7/03
5-Homemade Money, How to Save Energy and Dollars in your Home, Rocky Mountain Institute,
6-Sierra Club, www.sierraclub.org/globalwarming/dangerousexperiment/, accessed 2/9/03

About Solar

A tremendous amount of solar energy that strikes the Earth every day. There are several ways homes and buildings can make use of this freely available energy every day the sun shines. At Whole Energy Solar, we like to start with energy conservation and Passive Solar Design, because these have the biggest impact per dollar invested. Next we recommend Solar Electricity and Solar Hot Water Heating. So much of what we use at home and work revolves around electrical appliances and it is deeply satisfying to know that they are running on self-produced, clean, renewable energy — and to show friends and colleagues which way the meter spins when the sun is shining. Solar Hot Water is an efficient use of solar energy that we can use every day and provides one of the best returns on investment. We talk more people out of Solar Space Heating for the simple reason that if Passive Solar Design is done right, then the two are redundant — and only one of them is free. But there are cases where active Solar Space Heating is appropriate and Whole Energy Solar does design and install solar heating systems.

Passive Solar
Solar Electricity
zero energy buildings
Solar Hot Water & Space Heating

Solar Resource

Our Solar Resource
How much sun is available? Is there enough sun where I live?
Cloudy Seattle has as much sun as Germany - where half the world's
solar panels have gone in past several years

Data Source: National Renewable Energy Lab
This map provides monthly average daily total solar resource information based on grid cells of approximately 40 km by 40km in size. The original gridded data were smoothed and contoured for easier interpretation. The insolation values represent the resource available to a flat plate collector, such as a photovoltaic panel, oriented due south at an angle from horizontal equal to the latitude to the collector location.

- Virtually all energy on earth is from the sun
- Except moon tides, radioactive material, earth's internal heat
- We're “Pro Nuclear Energy” – caveat: 93 million miles away Sun is nuclear reactor (fusion not fission)
- Sun delivers 1.52 x 10e18 kWh/year to earth
- All mankind's energy needs less than 0.1% of this
- Enough sun energy hits earth each minute to meet world energy demand for a year

Source: American Solar Energy Society
www.ases.org