# Ideas about solar production forecasting **URL:** \ **Category:** General\ **Created:** [8 July 2021 05:48 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/ideas-about-solar-production-forecasting/48168 "2021-07-08T05:48:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 42

**Author:** ![Urs-Eppenberger](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/urs-eppenberger/32/28_2.png) [@Urs-Eppenberger](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Urs-Eppenberger)\ **Post date:** [12 July 2021 14:14 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/ideas-about-solar-production-forecasting/48168/42 "2021-07-12T14:14:06Z")

Using node-red to control the energy use of a household by optimising the usage of solar energy is a very relevant topic for this forum. I learn a lot by reading all your contributions, thank you very much. I did a lot of measuring in my house to understand what is used, how much and when. The most important energy consumption: **Freezers** : We have two freezers. The pumps are very small, and are designed to run a short time and then have a longer pause (1min / 5 min). Forcing them to run longer to store energy will just reduce the lifespan of the pumps, which destroys all the savings. **Hot water** : about 4kWh/day. The trick here is, that my boiler has a separate control input to signal when excess solar power is available. I use this as a simple mechanism to use excess solar power to generate hot water. **Heating** : we use manually heating with wood, node-red can't help here. **Electric car** : It needs about three times as much energy than the whole household. Therefore my current focus is there. See my ongoing adventure here: [control charging for Tesla](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/control-charging-for-tesla/46542) The hints about solar energy predictions are a great help and I want to try this. Please keep up the discussion and the very helpful hints. Kind regards, Urs. --- _[View the full topic](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/ideas-about-solar-production-forecasting/48168)._