Depending on your interconnection agreement, your utility may credit you for excess generation which will also be measured in kilowatt-hours. MyEnlighten displays the amount of energy generated by your microinverter system in watt-hours. For example, an Enphase microinverter system might generate kWh amount in the month of September period of time. A kilowatt-hour kWh is 1, Wh, so kWh is , Wh. In some cases, MyEnlighten will display energy as megawatt-hours MWh , which is one million watt-hours.
In a nutshell, watt-hours measure amounts of energy for a specific period of time, and watts measure rates of power at a moment in time. A common analogy for watts and watt-hours is speed and distance. Speed is a rate of how fast you drive at an instant in time watts ; distance is the length, or amount that you drive over a period of time watt-hours. For example, if you drive at a constant rate of 60 miles per hour for one hour, then you will have traveled 60 miles. Similarly, if a 60 W light bulb is on for one hour, then that light bulb will have used 60 Wh of energy.
If left on for two hours, then the 60 W light bulb will have used Wh of energy. Knowing about watts and watt-hours can give you a greater appreciation of the energy savings on your utility bills.
You can compare the electric bills you received before you installed your Enphase Microinverter system to your current bills and calculate your energy savings, and in turn your monetary savings. Keep in mind that your utility will only bill and credit you for energy that runs through your electric meter. Solar generation that is consumed by your home will not be measured by your utility.
To learn more about calculating your energy consumption, click here. Explore Knowledge articles. How to Save Electricity? Green Electricity. Electrical Resistance Definition Explained. What is the Electricity Demand In Canada? What is a Multimeter? What is Electrical Resistance? Electricity and Magnetism - Power Explained. What is a Capacitor? Electricity Generator. What is an Ampere? Basic Electrical Units. Electrical Resistance Explained.
Electricity Supply And Demand Balance. Electricity Production. Static Electricity. Substation Maintenance Training. High Voltage Training Online.
UPS System Training. Dec, Building Automation Training. High Voltage Safety Training. Or if you are just into lightbulb jokes, see my green building lightbulb jokes here.
Chances are, you may be worried about higher energy prices, global warming, energy insecurity, or all of the above and more. You may want to become more aware of your energy use, and become more efficient. A few weeks ago I wrote about radiation terminology; today I'm going to focus on energy terminology. Knowing is half the battle. Let's start with that watt lightbulb. Power is a measure of the rate at which energy flows, and in electrical systems it is measured in watts W.
Watts are basically the miles-per-hour measurement of the electrical world--they tell you how fast the electrons are speeding down the highway. For those who are keeping track, one watt is equivalent to electricity flowing at a rate of one joule per second in the metric system, which is also equivalent to 3.
A watt lightbulb will consume electricity at a rate of 60 watts. A laborer working through the day will put out 75 watts of power. A medium-sized car might consume , watts. One horsepower is equivalent to watts, so that's a hp car. A small gasoline generator puts out 2, watts; the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant puts out megawatts, or ,, watts. Many other pieces of equipment come with power ratings to describe the rate at which they use energy.
When you get your utility bill, the electricity you've used is measured in kilowatt -hours kWh. While a watt is a measure of power, a kWh is a measure of energy. Energy is defined as the capacity to do work, such as creating heat, light, or motion. If you run a watt lightbulb for one hour, you've used 60 watt-hours, or 0. In other words, 0.
Homes are typically charged only for the electricity they use, measured in kWh. But commercial and industrial facilities also pay "demand charges," which are calculated based on their peak power draw usually measured in megawatts, or MW , which compensates the electric utility for ensuring that it has enough power available to meet that demand.
Boilers and furnaces are also sized based on their heating power, in Btus per hour in the U. How much energy does your entire home or workplace use?
Overall energy consumption of buildings, including both electricity and other fuels, is typically counted in million Btus per year which is usually abbreviated as MMBtu--don't ask.
To get a single whole-building MMBtu number, we have to convert all fuel sources into that unit, and then add them up. You can find conversion ratios for doing this online, which include all fuel sources you might use, such as propane, cordwood, natural gas, coal, and others. The average onsite energy use for office buildings in the U. The average for single-family detached homes is For multi-family homes of five-plus units, it's If these numbers look surprisingly high compared with single-family homes, keep in mind that we're talking per-square-foot, not per-home.
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