Solmeter Documentation
The displayed hereof are estimates based on historical satellite solar irradiance data and artificially
generated electricity demand.
The electricity demand generated is based on average European household energy use on appliances, per
month. These numbers consider demand peaks during the first hours of the morning, late afternoon, and
evening on weekdays—periods when most of the EU population is at home. Your case might differ by far or
little from the average, therefore you should not consider these results as totally accurate for you.
The same goes for Electric vehicles, which are considered to be used every day and get charged every
night.
In case of the heating and cooling, this takes into account the outside temperature and the energy
losses from your house. New buildings commonly have better efficiencies in keeping the temperature
inside the household. Temperature is kept between 21-25ºC, when it lies above, the electrical equipment
is turned on to provide heating or cooling.
Finally, the hot water considers different numbers of showers and other minor water usage depending on
the household members. As electric appliances, water is used when people are at home. First hours in the
morning and last ones of the day, during weekdays.
For an accurate representation of your demand, it will be necessary to see your electricity bills and
monitor for several weeks your energy usage behaviors.
Data Input Form
The Form is used for collecting various user inputs necessary for calculating energy consumption and efficiency for a property. The form is structured into three main groups: required fields, hidden fields, and optional fields. Below is a detailed description of each group and their respective fields.
1. Required Fields
These fields must be filled out by the user as they provide critical data necessary for
calculations.
1.1. Address:
- Purpose: Captures the address of the property. Although marked as optional in the form, this field is typically required as it is used to automatically fill in the latitude and longitude hidden fields through an external map service.
- Usage: The address is used to retrieve geographic coordinates (latitude and longitude) which are essential for fetching weather data through an API. This weather data is then used in various energy calculations.
1.2. Consumption:
- Purpose: Represents the annual electricity consumption of the property in kilowatt-hours (kWh).
- Usage: This value is central to calculating the energy needs and efficiency of the property, serving as a baseline for various other calculations, including heating, cooling, and additional energy usage from electric vehicles or new appliances.
1.3. Property Size:
- Purpose: Represents the total livable are of the property in square meters.
- Usage: The size of the property is used to calculate heating and cooling needs, helping to estimate energy consumption more accurately based on the volume of space that requires temperature regulation.
1.4. Solar Panels:
- Purpose: Indicates the number of solar panels the user currently has or plans to install.
- Usage: The number of solar panels directly influences the potential energy generation and savings calculations. This information is crucial for assessing how much of the energy consumption can be offset by solar energy.
1.5. Building:
- Choices: "New Building", "Old Building"
- Purpose: Specifies whether the building is new or old, which typically corresponds to its energy efficiency.
- Usage: The building type is used to apply different efficiency constants in calculations, reflecting the different energy needs and consumption patterns of newer versus older buildings.
2. Hidden Fields
These fields are automatically filled based on the user’s input in the address field and are not
directly editable by the user.
2.1. Latitude:
- Purpose: Stores the latitude coordinate of the property, derived from the address.
- Usage: Used in API calls to retrieve weather data, essential for calculating the energy requirements for heating, cooling, and other weather-dependent variables.
2.2. Longitude:
- Purpose: Stores the longitude coordinate of the property, derived from the address.
- Usage: Similar to latitude, used for retrieving location-specific weather data necessary for energy calculations.
3. Optional Fields
These fields are additional inputs that the user may choose to fill out depending on their specific
situation or future plans. These fields often trigger additional calculations.
3.1. Battery:
- Purpose: Indicates whether the user plans to install a battery storage system.
- Usage: If selected, this option enables the battery_capacity field, allowing for calculations of stored energy potential and the impact on overall energy efficiency.
3.2. Battery Capacity:
- Purpose: Specifies the capacity of the battery in kWh.
- Usage: Enabled when the battery field is selected, this value is used to calculate the potential energy storage and its contribution to the property’s energy efficiency.
3.3. Heating:
- Purpose: Indicates whether the user plans to install or already has a heating system that is not yet accounted for in the annual consumption.
- Usage: If selected, additional calculations are performed to estimate the energy consumption for heating over one year, and this is factored into the overall energy consumption.
3.4. Cooling:
- Purpose: Indicates whether the user plans to install or already has a cooling system that is not yet accounted for in the annual consumption.
- Usage: Similar to heating, this field triggers calculations for the cooling energy requirements over one year.¶
3.5. Hot Water:
- Purpose: Indicates whether the user plans to install or already has an electric boiler that is not yet accounted for in the annual consumption.
- Usage: If selected, the household_members field is enabled, and additional calculations are performed to estimate the energy required to heat water, based on the number of household members.
3.6. Household Members:
- Purpose: Specifies the number of people in the household.
- Usage: Enabled when hot_water is selected, this value helps estimate the energy consumption for heating water based on the number of users.
3.7. Electric Vehicle:
- Purpose: Indicates whether the user plans to use or currently owns an electric vehicle (EV) not yet included in the annual consumption.
- Usage: If selected, this enables the ev_mileage and ev_energy_consumption fields, allowing for calculations of the additional energy required for EV charging.
3.8. EV Mileage:
- Purpose: Specifies the expected or actual annual mileage of the EV in kilometers.
- Usage: Enabled when electric_vehicle is selected, this value is used to estimate the total energy consumption required for EV charging over a year.
3.9. EV Energy Consumption:
- Purpose: Specify the energy consumption rate of the EV in kWh per 100 kilometers.
- Usage: Enabled when electric_vehicle is selected, this field is crucial for calculating the total energy consumption for the EV based on the provided mileage.