Daily energy needs for a tiny home — how do I assess them?

Determining Appliance Wattage

To determine your daily energy needs, start by identifying the appliances you plan to use in your tiny home. Make a list of each appliance and its corresponding wattage rating. For example, a refrigerator might use 100-200 watts, while a laptop might use 20-50 watts. Use a wattage calculator or consult the appliance’s manual to determine its wattage rating. Consider the number of hours you plan to use each appliance daily to determine its total watt-hour requirement.

Calculating Daily Energy Needs

To calculate your daily energy needs, use the following formula:

Daily Energy Needs (kWh) = (Total Wattage x Number of Hours) / 1000

For example, if your refrigerator uses 150 watts and you plan to use it for 8 hours a day, its daily watt-hour requirement would be:

(150 watts x 8 hours) / 1000 = 1.2 kWh

Add up the daily watt-hour requirements for each appliance to determine your total daily energy needs. A general rule of thumb is to add 10-20% to your total to account for inefficiencies and other energy-using devices.

Considering Solar Panel Sizing

When sizing your solar panel system, consider the total daily energy needs of your tiny home. As a general rule, a typical solar panel system is sized to produce 25-30% more energy than the total daily energy needs to account for inefficiencies and energy loss. For example, if your tiny home requires 2.5 kWh of energy per day, you would need a solar panel system that produces at least 3.25 kWh of energy per day to meet your needs.