Home Solar Power Systems: Use the Sun to Run Your House.

The increasing cost of electric power, the economic downturn and the concern that we all feel about the effects of global warming are just some of the reasons why many people are thinking of the possibility of generating their own solar power. They share a hope that it might be economically feasible and that they would have the added bonus of making a contribution to the lessening of the greenhouse effect.

The fact of the matter is that it is a very complex problem to solve as a general proposition because there are so many variables involved one situation to another. For example the cost of electric power varies between 5.8 cents per kilowatt hour in Kentucky to 14.31 cents in New York. It is even higher at 16.7 cents in Hawaii. ( 6/27/200).

There is also a substantial variation in the cost of solar panels when considering home solar power systems. They can vary from $2 per Watt for DIY panels, to $10 per Watt for commercial panels. The number of panels required will also vary considerably depending on your geographic situation. For example Seattle has 2049 hrs of sunshine per annum whilst Phoenix has 3752, so that for every solar panel required in Phoenix to achieve a particular output of electricity, 1.8 panels would be required in Seattle.

The tremendous difference between the cost of DIY panels and those obtained commercially has seen a surge in interest in people wanting to build their own solar panels. For many people this means the difference between having renewable energy providing electricity for their homes and having to stay locked in to the power companies.

For those wishing to pursue this interest there are a number of excellent e-books available on the World Wide Web which give simple and detailed instructions as to how to build solar panels in one’s home workshop.

Solar Power Lighting

There are numerous applications for solar power lighting but probably the two most important are: (1) lighting our households and (2) making life more agreeable in outdoor situations such as camping. This article will attempt to provide simple and pertinent information about these two functions..

Lighting for the outdoors such as when we are out camping is usually provided by small petrol engine driven generators. These are fairly expensive to buy and to run. They are also noisy and smelly, to say nothing of their pollution. Solar power lighting on the other hand is less expensive (as a do-it-yourself project), far more portable and is totally non-polluting. The downside is that batteries required to store the power generated from the sunlight so that it is available at night. Admittedly these batteries are heavy to handle but no more so than a petrol or diesel engine generator set.  

Solar power can also be used to generate electricity for the household. This is becoming a more common practice due to the falling prices of solar panels and the increasing prices of the power supplied by utilities. The solar panels are usually placed on the house roof and could cost as much as $20,000 to supply the needs of an average household. This is very much a ballpark figure as there are so many variables involved. For example many people these days build their own solar panels to provide solar power lighting simply because this can be done for as little as 25% of the cost of a commercially built product. 

There are a number of excellent e-books available on the Internet that provide step by step directions for constructing your own solar panels and wind turbine generators and these are well worth reading.
If you're considering going green, remember the federal government is providing a 30 percent tax credit for homeowners who install renewable-energy solutions. There is also pending legislation at the state level for additional incentives.

Residential Solar Power Systems: How to Get Them

Residential solar power systems certainly generate a lot of uncertainty among prospective users. People seem to find themselves torn between whether or not it is a feasible solution to reducing power costs in the first place, with the question of where to buy and how much to pay for a commercially produced product being the second most important question. This article will briefly discuss some of the issues involved in these dilemmas in the hope that it will help people in their decision making.

To delve thoroughly into the economics of solar versus supplied, or grid power is beyond the scope of this article, I think it would be agreed by the majority of people that, generally speaking, solar power in the long run would be a most economical proposition. In the short run this would not be so, and the breakeven point would depend on the cost of the solar unit and supplied electricity. With the costs of commercial units gradually reducing and the cost of supplied electricity gradually increasing we are faced with an ever changing breakeven point. But as I said, generally speaking the more economical solution would be solar power.