Solar vs. Wind Power | Which Is Better For Home Usage?

Did you know that at the end of 2023, the global electricity generation from renewable sources was at an all-time high of 3,870GW (from 3397GW at the end of 2022)? The three main contributors are solar (37%), hydro (33%), and wind (26%). While these are “grid-level” or “utility-level” statistics, a growing number of homeowners worldwide are investing in renewable energy sources to power their homes.

Obviously, hydroelectricity is out of the question for residential purposes. So, the remaining two i.e., solar and wind energy are the practical choices. Apart from reducing your contribution towards carbon dioxide emissions, you can also save money on your electricity bills by installing either solar panels or wind turbines. But which renewable energy source is better (or practical) for home use?

If you are a homeowner looking to add a renewable energy source but can’t decide between solar vs. wind for your home, you are not alone. Both have their fair share of advantages and disadvantages. In this guide, we will try to break things down regarding solar and wind energy for residential purposes, look at their pros and cons, the cost of installation and maintenance, and many more.

The Growth Of Renewable Energy

One of the primary reasons for the growth in the usage of renewable energy sources is the increased concerns of climate change. When we burn fossil fuels (usually coal and natural gas) to generate electricity or other purposes, they emit carbon dioxide (among other things). You might’ve heard about greenhouse gasses and their contribution towards the greenhouse effect. Carbon dioxide is the primary greenhouse gas.

As the emission of carbon dioxide due to the burning of fossil fuels increases, our atmosphere’s ability to reflect heat from sunlight decreases. This in turn increases the surface temperature of the earth, a phenomenon we call Global Warming.

Burning coal is still the main way to generate electricity. In order to use 1kWh of electricity at home, power plants roughly burn 3kWh of coal. But with the advancement in technology, we found alternative sources of energy that don’t involve the emission of carbon dioxide. These are Solar, Hydro, Wind, Biofuels, and Geothermal. The best thing about these methods is the energy sources are renewable i.e., easily replenished.

Importance Of Sustainable Energy

But “renewable” isn’t sufficient anymore. We need to have sustainable energy as well. What does this mean? Let us understand this with an example. Technically, wood is a renewable energy. You can cut a tree, use it as a source of energy, plant a new tree, and voila, you will have a new tree to cut down in some years. But cutting down trees and burning them is not good for the planet.

Now take solar or wind energy. Both these sources are extremely abundant and exist freely in nature but importantly do not have any long-term consequences on the planet.

Renewable Energy For Saving Money

Buying a house is the greatest expenditure one will ever make. However there is a continuous cost of running the home for heating and cooling, the two main consumers of energy in a typical U.S. home. You can switch to renewable energy instead of solely relying on the grid supply and keep your finances in control.

There is the initial cost of the system. But you can recoup this money within no time (anywhere between 5 to 10 years, or depending on your system). Thereafter, you essentially don’t have to pay for electricity. Some utilities allow consumers to export the excess energy from their renewable setup to the grid. This way, you can further reduce the electricity bill.

Solar Energy For Home Usage

When we say renewable energy for residential purposes, the first thing that comes to anyone’s mind is solar energy. There are a couple of ways in which you can use solar energy: Solar Heaters to heat water (or space) and Solar or Photovoltaic Cells to generate electricity. Let us keep this discussion to the generation of electricity.

Solar Panels or Modules consist of an array of photovoltaic cells (which are made up of crystalline silicon, a semiconductor material) that convert sunlight into electricity by a phenomenon known as the photovoltaic effect.

Depending on the arrangement of the silicon atoms in the crystal, we can have Monocrystalline (perfectly symmetrical) and Polycrystalline (slightly less symmetrical) cells. Monocrystalline Cells are more efficient but also expensive. Polycrystalline Cells are cheaper to manufacture and also less efficient.

Solar Panels produce DC electricity. Each PV Cell can produce about 0.5V. So, if the module consists of 60 cells, then the open circuit voltage of it is 30V. A typical home solar panel with dimensions of 2m×1m can produce anywhere between 280 to 400w of power.

Apart from the panels, you will also need an inverter that converts the DC electricity to AC electricity, which is similar to what we get from the mains outlets in our homes.

The best place to install these solar panels is the roof of your house. We call such systems Rooftop Solar Electric (or Photovoltaic) Systems. Alternatively, if you have a lot of space, you can go with a ground mount as well.

In order to extract the maximum energy output from solar panels, the direction they face is extremely critical. As a general rule of thumb, if you are in the northern hemisphere, then you have to place the solar panels facing south.

Wind Energy For Home Usage

We have been using wind power since the 12th century with the help of windmills to pump water or grind grains. Nowadays, the main use of wind power is to generate electricity using large wind turbines. You might have seen wind farms (a large collection of wind turbines in one location) in hills or mountain passes while traveling in vast open lands. These are known as onshore wind farms. The other type is offshore wind farms which are usually at sea. All these wind turbines are massive with a blade length of over 100m.

A typical horizontal-axis wind turbine (HAWT) consists of blades, a rotor shaft, a gearbox, a generator unit, a control unit, and many other components. As the blades rotate due to the wind, the gearbox converts the slow rotations of the rotor into quick rotation to drive the generator that produces AC electricity.

Wind turbines are highly mechanical devices with a lot of moving parts which is quite a contrast to a solar energy system which is purely an electronic unit with no moving parts.

Coming to residential wind energy systems, things dial down a little bit. The size of home wind turbines is quite small where the diameter of the rotor in small wind electric systems for homes can be anywhere between 1m to 7m while the height of the tower can be 20m to 30m.

As per the Department of Energy, you need to make sure that the wind turbines are at least 9m (30ft) above any obstacle (tree or house) and there should be no obstacle within a 90m (300ft) radius from the tower. Power-wise, home wind turbines can be in the range of 400W to 20kW. In addition to horizontal-axis wind turbines, we also get vertical-axis wind turbines for home usage.

Solar vs. Wind For Home: Efficiency

The efficiency of solar panels is the measure of electricity generated by them with respect to the amount of solar energy falling on the panels. The theoretical efficiency of a single solar cell is only 29%. Practically, even the top-tier solar panels have up to 20% efficiency.

Coming to wind turbines, efficiency is a measure of electricity generated by them against the kinetic energy of the wind that rotates the turbines. Typically, wind turbines have an efficiency of 50%. This number can be even higher in offshore systems due to higher wind speed and no obstruction.

Small home wind turbines however are not that efficient as geography plays an important role in converting the wind power to electricity.

Solar vs. Wind For Home: Cost

In the U.S., the cost of residential solar electric systems can be anywhere between $2.5 to $3.8. If we take a 10kW solar system, it can generate anywhere between 13,500 to 17,000kWh per year. Before any tax credit, this system can cost between $25,000 to $38,000.

If we take a similar 10kW wind turbine that can generate on average 14,500kWh per year it will cost around $75,000 before task credit.

Apart from the installation cost, we also need to factor in the cost of maintenance and operation. Solar energy is practically free in this regard. There are no moving parts in a typical residential solar electric system. Solar panels usually have a warranty of 25 to 20 years. This is around 10-25 years for the inverters.

The only “maintenance” job you need to perform with solar panels is to regularly clean them from dust and snow.

Wind turbines are completely opposite here. They are completely mechanical devices with a lot of moving parts in the form of a gearbox, generator, etc. Regular lubrication and inspection of parts is mandatory for wind turbines. The frequency of these check-ups can be two or three times a year and can increase with age.

Solar vs. Wind For Home: Pros And Cons

Solar Energy

Wind Energy

Solar vs. Wind For Home: How To Choose Renewable Energy?

Before you install a renewable energy source at your home, be it solar panels or a wind turbine, you must consider the following three crucial factors.

Location And Area

Your location and geography play an important role in determining the right renewable energy source. To install solar panels, you need to have a large roof to hold the panel in case of rooftop installation or a large and open ground for ground-mount installation. In either case, the panels must not fall under any shade from nearby trees or buildings.

Let us consider a 10kW solar electric system. If we take 400W solar panels, then we need about 25 panels. With the average area of each panel being 20 sq.ft., the total area you will need is approximately 500 sq.ft.

Things are not simple with a wind energy system. First of all, a typical small wind turbine needs to be 300 ft from a nearby obstacle (to prevent any damage in case of accidents). This means you will need a relatively large area for installing a single wind turbine. Another requirement is winds. While solar panels can generate electricity even when there are clouds (only during day time), wind turbines need wind to generate electricity.

Cost

The next important parameter is the amount of money you are spending on heating, cooling, and other (lights, fans, etc.). This calculation will help you in deciding whether a renewable energy system is feasible or if you are better off with some energy conservation and efficiency measures (such as better insulation for instance).

Type Of Energy

If you have a traditional boiler for hot water, then instead of solar or wind turbines, you will have better results with a heat pump instead. For a smaller home, you can install solar heaters for all your hot water requirements.

Solar vs. Wind For Home: Which Is Better?

Both solar and wind energy systems are very good alternatives to regular fossil fuel-based electricity. However, irrespective of some of the cons, a solar energy system with solar panels and inverters is the better choice for residential usage. You will not have any trouble finding a variety of options for solar panels, inverters, and importantly, installers who come to you and install the system. Additionally, you don’t have to worry about any kind of maintenance.

While the efficiency of wind turbines is higher than solar panels, you will not find that many options for wind turbines for residential purposes both in terms of equipment and installers. At the utility level, the share of electricity generation using wind turbines is much more than that of solar panels.