Facts »
- About 30% of a family's energy budget is used to heat water.
- A Solar hot water system can replace 50% to 80% of those energy costs.
- Solar Energy is measured in kilowatt-hours. 1 kilowatt = 1000 watt, which means 1kilowatt-hour (kWh) = the amount of electricity required to burn a 100 watt light bulb for 10 hours.
- A 1-kilowatt home solar system will prevent approximately 170 lbs. of coal from being burned, 300 lbs of CO2 from being released into the atmosphere and 105 gallons of water from being consumed each month!
- Relying on a battery backup, a solar energy system can provide electricity 24x7, even on cloudy days and at night.
- Solar panels come in various colors.
- More solar energy falls on the earth in one hour than the entire population uses in one year.
- Over the last 20 years the cost of solar energy systems has come down seven fold. As the demand for these systems rise and manufacturing volume increases, costs will decrease and the economic payback time will also decrease.
- Monthly average residential consumption of electricity in the US in 2011 was 920 kilowatt hours. (Source: US DOE)
- Albert Einstein won his Nobel Prize for his work on the photoelectric effect in 1921.
- A world record was set in 1990 when a solar powered aircraft flew 2,523 miles across the USA, using no fuel.
- Electric ovens consume the most amount of electricity, followed by microwaves and central air conditioning.
- $83,000 - that's the amount that one Air Force base in Nevada saves per month after installing a solar energy array on site.
- While the US has 3,900% more sunlight than Germany, the smaller European country has 6,000% more solar energy.
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