Solar Calculator

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AjQbK_HAixQ3dGlUdTJuSTFQbmw3a1RUOWpwTmVWZXc Is a link to my spreadsheet for calculating how much solar you need for the electrical items you have.   You will notice it adds up quick.

Also leaving things plugged in suck up a lot of power, that 5 watt draw from an iphone charger that is plugged in but not used adds up fast.  unplugging things when not in use saves a lot of electricity.

Note: a couple of examples.   Like a network router.  Plugged in all the time is over 500 Watt hours of power used.  but slap a light timer on it to kill it when you are not home or you are sleeping,  you can cut it in half or more.

Also note the choice of laptop makes a difference.  Look on the spreadsheet.  I added the measured  power draw of my Wife's 13" apple Powerbook.  it uses a LOT less power than my Dell 17" quad core i7 laptop, even idle sitting in sleep mode it uses a lot less power.

The biggest thing this will reveal to you is how much power you are wasting with appliances.  finding more efficient devices makes a difference.   for example. Our new coffee maker uses 1500 watts but only runs for 3 minutes to make a pot of coffee and then shuts off.  It uses a insulated carafe so it does not run the heating element while the coffee sits there.  This saves a significant amount of power.