The Advantages Of Building A Solar Home

When driving through a neighborhood, have you ever seen any houses with a large number of tall tinted windows? There is a good explanation, because of such windows, the people living in those homes are saving a good deal of money on their energy bills each month. How is this?-you ask. More simple than you might think. These homeowners have invested in home solar panel kits. With very little work your home could be built to make homemade energy using solar power.This would in turn save your family money by eliminating your monthly electric bill.

When you are ready to build your solar powered home, you might consider some of these ideas. It is common in most parts of the country for the sun to shine southward towards your home. The best location for most of your windows would therefore be on the south side of your home. By strategically placing your windows, you are letting the sun flow naturally through your home making it easier to heat with solar energy. You should also consider how many trees are close to this side of the house, because they can block the suns rays making it more difficult for the solar panels to absorb the sun light for the solar energy. When decorating your home you might also consider decorating with lighter colors which help distribute the heat from the sun more evenly than darker colors do.

Home solar panel kits work by collecting heat from the sun and transforming it into energy for your home. This renewable energy works to power your home as well as heat your water. The initial cost for building a solar powered home is a little more than a conventional home, but the savings far outweigh that initial expense. Homemade solar power really is the smarter choice when you consider the outrageous rise in the cost of electric power over the last few years. Living off grid has not only become easier but solar panel kits and other solar products have become more affordable.

Effectively heating and cooling your home using solar power by following these simple steps:

1.) By using ceiling fans, you reduce the amount of time you run your air conditioner.

2.) Ceiling fans also distribute the amount of heat and air more evenly so you do not have hot and cold pockets throughout your home.

3.) The use of metal insulated doors will help retain the heat and also keep out the cold.

4.) When the sun is shining the most on a particular side of your home, you can keep those doors closed to help retain the heat inside your home.

The many advantages of building a solar powered home also include the peace of mind that you are building an environmentally friendly home and preserving our natural resources. Another great benefit is being free from the burden of a monthly energy bill, and the constant worry of rising gas and electricity prices. You are taking the first step in creating efficient homemade energy by acquiring a home solar panel kit and building your new solar home.

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July 10 2009 | Home Improvement | No Comments »

Energy Conservation Tips: The Elements of a Homemade Solar Panel

Why solar panels? With the ever-present threat of Global Warming looming over our heads, clean and renewable energy is an appealing alternative to electricity generated from fossil fuels. Solar energy can reduce the monthly cost of electricity. It is a technology amenable to DIY projects.

Solar panels harness the power of sunlight to generate electricity through the use of photovoltaic (PV) cells. If money is no object, a contractor can be hired to obtain and install a solar system for you. For those of us in the "other" category, there are other less expensive options. These include purchasing solar panel kits, refurbishing used solar panels, and the ultimate DIY of making panels from component parts. Solar panels can create a more self-sufficient household in which they meet your all or most of household electrical energy needs. The ideal scenario would have the electricity generated will exceed the needs permitting electricity to be sold back to the Grid.

Although the there are other component required for more complex systems, the basic elements of a homemade solar panel system include four items: Solar panel(s); Charge controller; Battery; and Inverter.

The solar panel: While we see the system as a solar panel, the total voltage is the sum of the voltage of all the photovoltaic cells in the system. To determine how many panels are needed we need to look at and average out the energy usage that appears on our bills.

The charge controller / regulator: The charge controller helps to maximize the life of the battery by the prevention of overcharging. It also follows the discharge status of the battery day and night.

Battery: The electricity not immediately used is stored by a battery or series of batteries. Deep-cycle or marine batteries are preferable to automobile batteries because they are capable of storing all or virtually all of the electricity generated by the solar panels, thus minimizing waste.

Inverter: Solar panels generate and store electricity as DC or Direct Current, whereas our appliances utilize AC or Alternating Current. The job of the inverter is to convert DC to AC to meet our household needs.

If a solar panel system is designed with the intent of generating enough electricity to "sell back" to the Grid, then the components will include the AC Breaker Panel, and the Kilowatt-per-Hour Indicator are required. The KW per Hour indicator, for example is necessary to track how much current is provided to and from the grid to determine the charge or credit that appears on your monthly electric bill.

We should also not forget the obvious energy saving tips including the shutting off of lights in unused rooms and the use of Energy-saver fluorescent bulbs.

To summarize, homemade solar panels can provide a great opportunity for a DIY project. They are also only one of several great energy conservation tips.

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March 08 2009 | Home Improvement | No Comments »