- Today, we're going
to answer the question, how many solar panels do I need? My name is Charles Fox with
Paradise Energy Solutions. - And I'm Warren Miller, the director of sales and
marketing at Paradise. (upbeat music) - So Warren, I get this
question asked a lot. How many panels do I need on my roof? So we've got panels behind me. For the average home, how many panels is a
homeowner going to need? - You know on the average home they will probably use about
30 solar panels, but Charles, it all depends on your specific site and your specific location and
how much electricity you use. - So as a homeowner, do
I need to calculate that? Or, or how has that done
for me? That process? - So when we go out
and we do a site visit, the first thing we do is we
look at your electric bill and we look at your
historical usage over a year to get an idea of how to size the system, how big to make that solar system, to know how much energy it will produce. - So let's say, I know how
many solar panels I need but you know, here there's
no sun or there's no shade. - Yeah. - So I would assume there's other impacts. So what other impacts are there? Shade would be one, is there other things
that we should consider? - Yeah, absolutely. Shade is, is an important factor. Obviously, we want to put the solar panels where the sun shines. Another factor is the panels ideally, we want them to face due South and we want them to have a
tilt approximately 25 degrees. - So my roof is not 25 degrees, so I should not go solar? - No you should definitely
consider going solar. 25 degrees is an optimal fixed position for where we're located here in the Mid-Atlantic region
of the United States. But we put solar panels on
roofs that have a higher pitch or lower pitch, and
they still produce well. It's just a matter of needing
a few additional panels if your pitch changes too much. - So Warren, we're using
different panels today than we did five years ago,
they're becoming more efficient. So the type of panel or
the efficiency of the panel would also come into play as we're looking at how many panels we need. - Panels have been
evolving over the years. And to give you an idea, Charles,
when we started doing this in 2009, solar panels
were about 14% efficient. Today, the solar panels that we sell range around 20% efficiency. And what that means for you is you just need fewer solar panels or less roof space to get
the same amount of production that you used to. - So let's say you tell me, Warren, I need 30 panels and I
have space for 20 panels. What is my solution? Now I'm talking about on my roof. - You don't have to cover
100% of your electric bill. You can cover 80% of your electric bill or 70% of your electric bill if you only want to go on
your, put panels on your roof but we do have options just
like these panels here, Charles, we can put panels on the ground for you, whether it's a ground
mount or a roof mount, a carport, we have a
variety of different options for your different site. - Well, thank you, Warren. Hopefully you found that valuable as you look at how many solar
panels you're going to need. So obviously, we're gonna
need your electric bill. You know, we're going to look at your roof or your ground space is available. The type of panels we're gonna use. All of that, it's going
to be accounted for. And part of the equation of
how many panels you need. (upbeat music)
