Going solar is an excellent investment for you and your family. Having efficient appliances along with air cooling and heating systems can go a long way towards ensuring you’re maximizing electricity efficiency in your home. How can you optimise your solar usage while at work? Let’s take a look.
Use an online monitoring system
A lot of guesswork can determine when your home is using the most electricity throughout the day. It is possible to cut through the mystery, however. By using a smart meter along with an online energy monitoring system, you can better understand your home’s energy consumption.
An online monitoring system can give you real-time data about how much energy you’re using, how much energy your solar panels are generating, and how much excess power is potentially being exported to the grid. By monitoring your usage and output, you make better decisions regarding when to run your major appliances during the day, even when out.
Set a timer for your air conditioner
If you don’t have a solar battery for storage, timing your energy use throughout the day matters. One way to do this is by investing in appliances and systems that run on timers that can be monitored from your smartphone.
If you can, time your washing machine to run during the sunniest part of the day, instead of running it at night. Run your dishwasher at this time too. And most importantly, time your air conditioner to run at the right time. If you’re working outside your home, you may want to turn the cooling or heating system off while you’re out and set a timer to have it come on about an hour before you’ll arrive home (as long as this is during daylight hours). Or, you might set it to run at the sunniest time to cool your home for the evening.
Run your pool pump during the day
Pool pumps can take a lot of energy to run. Having yours on during the day can go far in helping you optimise your solar usage while at work.
Cook with a slow cooker
To truly get the most from your solar system, it may be a good idea to jump on the slow-cooking bandwagon. Slow cookers use smaller amounts of energy over many hours.
They’re perfect for winter when you’re more likely to want a hearty meal at the end of the day. You can find several recipes online for not only stews and chillis, but also slow-cooked meats. Just put in your ingredients, set the timer, and have your dinner cooking for you all day (without the added expense!).
Consider investing in a solar battery
While batteries that store your solar power are currently still quite expensive for the average household, they could become a more economical option as time goes on. Rising energy prices coupled with batteries that can potentially last between 10 to 15 years present a scenario that’s more and more attractive.
Depending on where you live in Australia, it may be the case that government incentives can lower the cost of purchasing a solar battery.
A solar battery can definitely optimise your solar use by allowing you to save the solar energy your home collects but does not use during the day. All that sun sitting on your panels while you’re away at work doesn’t need to go to waste.
If you work from home, this can be particularly useful. A battery can allow you to enjoy your air conditioning both during the day and at night, should you need it, without worry.
Solarhart has a variety of solar batteries among our solar products to choose from, including the Tesla Powerwall 2, the LG Chem RESU10H, and the BYD Battery Box LV. Each has a unique ability to store renewable energy gathered from solar panels to keep your home up and running whenever you need it.
Solarhart is a leading provider of solar energy solutions for your home. We’re your trusted Capalaba solar installer with decades of experience in the industry. If you would like to find out more about our products or how you can maximise your solar usage while at work, contact us today!