{"id":30230,"date":"2023-08-16T17:08:11","date_gmt":"2023-08-16T17:08:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goodacademic.com\/blog\/questions\/in-this-capstone-activity-we-are-going-to-look-at-the-availability-and-economics-of-solar-and-wind-power-where-you-live\/"},"modified":"2023-08-16T17:08:11","modified_gmt":"2023-08-16T17:08:11","slug":"in-this-capstone-activity-we-are-going-to-look-at-the-availability-and-economics-of-solar-and-wind-power-where-you-live","status":"publish","type":"questions","link":"https:\/\/www.goodacademic.com\/blog\/questions\/in-this-capstone-activity-we-are-going-to-look-at-the-availability-and-economics-of-solar-and-wind-power-where-you-live\/","title":{"rendered":"In this capstone activity, we are going to look at the availability and economics of solar and wind power where you live"},"content":{"rendered":"

Using
\nthe calculator is quite simple.  <\/span>At the
\nfront page, put in your zip code.  <\/span>You
\nwill be sent to a page to enter some basic information about your home, such as
\nthe date that it was built, the amount of livable square footage, and the types
\nof energy used.  <\/span>After filling out the
\nappropriate slots on that page, click Save Answers.  <\/span>This will take you to another page that has
\nlinks to various aspects about a home, such as water heater, lighting,
\netc.  <\/span>The calculator will also assign you
\na Session ID number, which you should write down on the activity sheet (the
\nnumber is found next to the Calculate button). 
\n<\/span>Clicking on each on of these factor links will allow you to personalize
\nthe information about your home, such as what type of air conditioner you have
\nand what are your temperature settings. 
\n<\/span>After you have visited a link, the page will place a blue dot by that
\nlink to tell you that you have already filled in that information.  <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

When you
\nare all done with the factors, click the Calculate button.  <\/span>The server will then take some time (usually
\n20 seconds) to calculate the usage in your home and to present the information
\nback to you in the form of a bar graph with dollar amounts for using the
\ndifferent components in your home. 
\n<\/span>Information about the amount of electrical energy used can be received
\nby clicking on the \u201cCompare\u201d tab on the top of the page, and then \u201cDetails\u201d
\nunderneath \u201cCompare\u201d.  <\/span>This will open a
\nnew window that contains the information. 
\n<\/span>Use this information to fill in the activity sheet below.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Now that
\nwe have the approximate electrical energy usage per year, we are prepared to
\ninvestigate the economics of using solar or wind energy in your present
\nlocation.  <\/span>Let us start with solar
\nenergy.  <\/span>Use the annual solar radiation
\nmap from the National Renewable Energy Labs (<\/span>https:\/\/www.nrel.gov\/gis\/assets\/images\/solar-annual-ghi-2018-usa-scale-01.jpg<\/span><\/a>) to find out the average amount of
\nsolar energy that strikes a 1-m2<\/sup> solar panel at your current
\nlocation.  <\/span>Enter this value on the
\nactivity sheet and then multiply it by 365 days in order to calculate Average Annual
\nSolar Energy (AASE) that is striking the surface in a year.  <\/span>Since most standard solar panels are only
\nabout 12% efficient, this number needs to be divided by 8 in order to calculate
\nthe Average Annual Solar Panel Output (AASPO) a 1-m2<\/sup> solar panel per
\nyear in your area.  <\/span>If this number is
\nthen divided into the total amount of electrical energy needed for you home,
\nyou will have estimated the area of solar panels that you need to meet your
\nelectrical needs for the year.  <\/span>Using
\ncurrent price estimates (they vary quite a bit, but $800\/sq meter is a good average)
\nfor solar panels then allows you to calculate the price of putting in solar
\npanels.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

After
\nfinishing filling in this data, answer the questions on the activity
\nsheet.  <\/span>On the last question, you will be
\nasked to re-visit the calculator to make changes in your home.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Using the calculator is quite simple.  At the front page, put in your zip code.  You will be sent to a page to enter some basic information about your home, such as the date that it was built, the amount of livable square footage, and the types of energy used.  After filling out the appropriate […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"disciplines":[505],"paper_types":[],"tagged":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodacademic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/questions\/30230"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodacademic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/questions"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodacademic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/questions"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodacademic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodacademic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30230"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodacademic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/questions\/30230\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodacademic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"disciplines","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodacademic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/disciplines?post=30230"},{"taxonomy":"paper_types","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodacademic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/paper_types?post=30230"},{"taxonomy":"tagged","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodacademic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tagged?post=30230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}