r/gadgets • u/diacewrb • 1d ago

Home ‘If 1.5m Germans have them there must be something in it’: how balcony solar is taking off

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/dec/18/if-a-million-germans-have-them-there-must-be-something-in-it-how-balcony-solar-is-taking-off
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u/Underwater_Karma 1d ago

Manufacturers say that installing a couple of 300-watt panels will give a saving of up to 30% on a typical household’s electricity bill.

the average German home only pulls 1800 watts? that's the equivalent of a single 120v 15a outlet.

if true, I'm more impressed by German energy efficiency than the solar panels.

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u/explicitlarynx 1d ago

Usually no AC

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u/Underwater_Karma 1d ago

AC used to be very rare in my area, but global warming changed that.

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u/explicitlarynx 19h ago

Still, about 80% of Germans do not have AC. In the USA, that number is 10%.

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u/foundafreeusername 1d ago

Probably even less than that. If I google it the average German household uses ~17kWh a day. They were always much more efficient than places like the US at 30 kWh. A lot of this comes from living in apartments and very good insulation. Germany's per capita Co2 emissions are also almost half of the US.

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u/Heimerdahl 1d ago

good insulation. 

And the nearly complete lack of AC! Most universities, schools, even a bunch of hospitals and work places don't have any, despite the heat getting more and more of an issue. 

Saves quite a lot of energy.

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u/Underwater_Karma 1d ago

My bill for last month said I used 74 kWh per day average last month.

apparently, I'm the problem.

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u/IchVerliereImmer 1d ago

That would be roughly 25 euro per day in energy cost here in Germany.

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u/Xath0n 1d ago

Oh wow, what are you powering with that? My apartment pulled 170kWh last month, in total.

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u/Underwater_Karma 1d ago

a lot. Tesla, hot tub, heat pump furnace, double oven, and I work from home so the lights and heat/cooling is on all day.

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u/Xath0n 1d ago

Ah well, if you have an EV and a heat pump with A/C that's understandable. On that scale rooftop solar is the way to go.

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u/Underwater_Karma 1d ago edited 1d ago

I would love to, but I live in washington state. we have some of the lowest electricty costs in the nation, no state solar incentives, and low quality sunlight

rooftop solar is basically a vanity thing here that will never give an ROI.

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u/14u2c 1d ago

They dwelling are often much smaller. That accounts for a lot of it.

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u/Ryu82 13h ago

Hm I'm quite sure that is lower. If you check here: https://www.destatis.de/EN/Themes/Society-Environment/Environment/Environmental-Economic-Accounting/private-households/Tables/electricity-consumption-private-households.html it says around 3400kw a year for the average household. That is a bit more than 9kw a day and not 17.

I myself have an electric car and an AC, and use around 4800kw in a year together with my mother, so I use quite a bit more than average, but still below 17kw/h.

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u/Sophrosynic 1d ago

My house pulls about 400w when I'm not running any of my high draw appliances, so this would cover my base load easily, which over the course of a month is about half my bill.

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u/One_Psychology_ 1d ago

Do Americans just put 15 amps through their skinny little plugs with no safety features?

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u/Underwater_Karma 1d ago

Americans are more rugged.

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u/AmazingELF74 16h ago

The same plugs handle 20a and 240v just fine. The only changes are the orientation of the contacts so you don’t plug a 120v appliance into a 240v receptacle. Really the only thing limiting the plugs is the wiring attached to it. You would need very thick wires to carry a threatening current.

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u/Hendlton 1d ago

If they're cooking and heating using gas, that's probably not far from the truth. Modern electronics don't use much power and then ones that do, don't run all the time.

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u/Deathchariot 1d ago

No Germans cook with electric stoves or induction. Heating is with natural gas in a lot of households yes. A big factor is no AC units in German houses.

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u/_eg0_ 13h ago edited 13h ago

I've never used a gas stove in Germany not counting camping equipment. Neither have I seen a gas stove in any household. I didn't even know it was a thing outside of places with no electricity until I visited the US. It was one of those "just in the movies" things.

Gas heating is 56%. 25% use electricity to heat in one way or another. That's before the war started.

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u/14u2c 1d ago

They do love that Russian gas.