Build It Green

Energy Generation Dashboard

Can you generate enough energy to cover your electrical needs each month?

Use the data dashboard to compare your energy needs to how much energy you can generate using solar or wind technology.

  • First, enter your total monthly device kwh usage (Use your choices from Device Usage data dashboard.)
  • Then, select how you want to generate energy — either solar or wind — and decide how many panels or turbines you can afford with your budget.
  • Finally, compare how much energy you need to how much you can generate. What do you notice? What do you wonder?

Constraints

You have a $ budget and square feet available on your roof.

Status

Cost: $0 (% of budget)
Space: 0 sqft (% of roof)

Learning Devices

Enter the total amount of energy used by your devices each month.

Energy Generation

Electrical Bill

Here's your electrical bill for the month of , .

Account: #100001 | Invoice: #52

$

Monthly Energy Consumption & Generation

Energy Consumed
Energy Generated

About

What is an energy grid?

The energy grid is a large network of power plants, transmission lines, substations, and power lines delivering electricity to a community. An energy grid can be made up of coal fired plants, solar farms (large numbers of solar panels networked to the energy grid), and wind farms (large numbers of wind turbines networked to the energy grid).

My building still has an electrical bill even though I chose onsite solar panels and/or wind turbines

Even though a school building may have onsite renewable energy resources, they will still receive an electrical bill from the power company. This is because onsite resources will not meet all electrical needs of the school building due to nighttime, cloudy days, insufficient wind, and/or increased energy demands within the building. When the onsite resources are not able to generate enough energy, then energy is pulled from the energy grid for all building operations. Power companies also typically include a base fee to be connected to the grid for this use.

Estimating Electrical Use

Monthly Values
Monthly energy use values are based on an average 5 day/week schedule. When appropriate, values are scaled to account for seasonality and rounded for readability.

Learning Devices
Each device has a specified "hours used" amount listed. Energy use per month calculations are based on a formula of hours used * device count * days. Numbers are rounded for readability. Since the data has been rounded and averaged across days and months, this creates a slight inconsistency in the total bill generated. All models have limitations and this is an example of how models can help us in some ways, but are also limited.

Cost
Operational costs are based on average utility rates of Missouri in 2023.

Baseline Values

Building Dimensions
This dashboard assumes a 30 x 30 foot classroom with a flat roof.

HVAC
HVAC (heating and cooling) energy use is based on a medium efficiency system.

Lighting
Calculation is based on 10 LED ceiling panels on for 8 hours / day.

Cafeteria Appliances
A fixed energy use amount for food preparation appliances is included.

Square Footage
Space available for solar panels is based on a 30 x 30 building with a flat roof.

Budget
A $20,000 budget allows for purchase of both energy generation options.

Energy
The amount of energy genrerated per month is based on weather patterns from Missouri, including climate data such as temperature, humidity, and solar radiation.