I know that. But how many people could you find on the street that would know that?
I unfortunatly have to rather often work with people that cant even figure out there own electrical usage based on what they have plugged in around their homes.
I get asked several times a year how can a person cut down on there electric bill by using alternative energy sources like what this OP is working with.
I tell them turn off all that high wattage convinence crap that wastes energy. They dont understand or just dont want to believe.
They have no clue to how much power they are using in terms of trying to run off batteries.
I have one fellow that wants to convert his old 1500 watt 1920's Parris Dunn wind charger over to 240 volt to run his farm. He said it worked great when he was a kid. The whole farm could run off the batteries for a week, So it should still be able to do it now, all it needs is the voltage changed right?
his present electric bill is around $300 a month! do you think that old machine can still run his whole farm? he does!
Of course he doesnt factor in that back in the 1930's his dad did not have four construction machines with 1500 watt heaters plugged in all winter just in case he needed to use them. Or that they did not have a 5000 watt electric water heater, Or a all electric stove, Or 5 big electric freezers in the basment, Or that the shop had three 32 volt electric lights back then but now has six 400 watt metal hailides along with 600 watts of floresents now, or that having three 175 watt yard lights adds up, Or that haveing 5 hp air compessor draws power, Or that running a 50 amp plasma cutter for several hours a day doing scrap iron draws some power. Or that there is a 1200 watt heater in the basement that never shuts off.
He is however convinvced that by shutting off his computer when he is not using it is saving him at least $75 a month. But that other stuff isnt using that much so why bother messing with it!
So how many joules / KWH does this guy need to run for a week at his present power rate? He pays about 8 cents KWH plus a $28 a month service fee.