Second year of the occasional meeting between an expert in solar energy and another in digital marketing is completed.

On these dates we usually look back 12 months to make balance:

* Blog that you are reading now is still full working.

It includes a research work on solar sector in Latin American region. Right now we are analyzing Honduras.

Three posts from each of the 20 countries of the region describe their renewable energy matrix, their solar thermal sector of domestic applications and their photovoltaic sector.

Also included are contents about solar technology, latest information and new developments.

* The web-based e-learning platform Moodle 3.1 that allows you to receive solar energy training from your PC, Tablet or Smartphone wherever you are; has finished its fourth edition.

* The 3 ebooks exclusively sold on Amazon (Introduction to Solar Energy) and Casa del Libro (Technical Manual-Commercial of Solar Thermal Energy and Technical-Commercial Manual of Solar Photovoltaic Energy) continue to be a success.

* Solar Layout downloads continue to increase, the most intuitive solar app on the market for collectors and solar modules positioning at the installation site.

* We continue to actively participate in projects management and development (not only in Latin America).

* We continue to commercialize equipment and turnkey solutions for solar thermal, photovoltaic and solar lighting.

* Sopelia has been Media Partner of most important solar energy events at regional level.

All this was possible thanks to changes and transformations that in IT, telecommunications and work sectors have occurred in recent years.

Currently professionals situated in different locations can create, exchange information, interact in a virtual way, develop and manage projects.

Work teams are flexible. They are born, transformed and mutated depending on business opportunities.

The fuel for all this to work has been a powerful solar and linked sectors professionals and companies networking that increases day by day with Social Media impulse.

What we could call “stable cast” is the following:

+ Marcelo Ferrari – CEO

+ Nahuel Rull – Argentina Country Manager

+ Tomás Ruiz – Solar Thermal Energy Expert

+ Francisco Ramírez – Photovoltaic Solar Energy Expert

+ Federico Redin – Facilities Expert

+ Dante Fiorini – Digital Marketing Expert

+ Rafael Chacón Almeda – E-learning Expert

+ Antonio Vites – SEO & SEM Expert

+ Sergio Fernandez Alonso – Programming and Apps Development Expert.

We want to wish you a prosperous 2018 in which we hope to continue collaborating in your solar energy projects and count on you to continue tending the Sopelia Network.

On Internet we can find free tools for basic or low complexity solar systems dimensioning and for certain components or accessories estimation.

Sopelia research team has carried out an exhaustive search and testing from which a new corporate website section called Free Solar Tools has been created.

Selected tools were classified into 4 categories.

Today we will analyze the second one: Consumption Calculation.

In first category we have already analyzed tools to obtain data about solar resource and other variables to consider in estimating energy solar system will provide in our location.

Now we are going to analyze tools to calculate the “load”, that is, the energy demand to be satisfied.

Tools order is not random. We have prioritized the most intuitive, the most universal and those that can be used online without download.

For this second category our selection is as follows:

1) Housing heating calculation

Approximate calculation tool developed by the Ministry of Industry, Energy and Mining of Uruguay.

Consider the variables surface, heating technology, materials, openings, insulation and roof.

Data that interests us to solar thermal system dimensioning is kcal / month.

2) Advanced Energy Efficiency Calculator

Tool to make detailed calculations of house energy consumption.

It includes a general table (all devices), a groups table (device families) and a configurable table (custom).

Last one is a version in which you can modify table data and know more accurately your particular case.

3) Hot water, heating and pool conditioning demand calculation

Spreadsheet for hot water, heating and swimming pool conditioning demand estimation.

Only Spain localizations are deployed, but can be used as template and adapt to any location by manually solar resource and other starting data entering.

Inputs: location, number of occupants and occupant’s consumption, temperature of use, collector’s number.

Outputs: collector surface, inclination, accumulation volume, yields and savings, demand and coverage calculation and comparative graphs.

4) Electrical consumption calculation

Only available for PC.

Cannot be viewed from mobile devices (Smartphone / Tablet).

Application developed by the Ministry of Energy and Mines of Peru to estimate electricity consumption based on each device power (W) and hours of use number.

5) Energy consumption calculator

Very easy operation online free basic calculator.

Different electrical devices, their power, and their daily use regime are added.

Accessing Free Solar Tools section of Sopelia’s corporate website you will find the links to have these tools and begin to configure your future solar system.

All you need is Sun. All you need is Sopelia.