Cheap Solar Panels – Start Saving Energy and Money Today
Cheap Solar Panels – Start Saving Energy and Money Today
What can we do to save energy and money? We can look at alternative energy sources, especially those such as the sun, that minimize long-term bills. Maybe we can’t change the whole world, but we can change our little piece of it. We can consider solar energy to power our homes.
Think of the sun as the ultimate energy source. It is a nuclear reactor, but at a nice, safe 93 million miles away. Plants and animals that eventually became fossil fuels were once nourished by the sun.
You can use solar panels to power your home. Unfortunately, the price of pre-built PV cells is really high and can go up to $15,000. With this price, it’s no wonder that just a small amount of people use solar energy to power their homes. However, there is a solution to the problem. You can build your own cheap solar panels with material that can be found at your local hardware store. And the best is that it costs around $200 to build it and install it!
Solar energy works.
Open the door of a car that has been sitting in the hot sun, and you will feel solar thermal energy. Or take a drink from a hose that has been lying in the sun. You can take advantage of solar radiation and transform it into electricity using cheap solar panels.
How can sunshine become electricity?
In a nutshell, modules or groups of silicon solar (called photovoltaic or PV) cells collect sunlight and convert it into electricity. The solar panels can be mounted on or near your home. The solar panels also last a long time. A lifespan in excess of 20 years of constant use is expected.
What do you need to turn solar power into electricity? Clear, unshaded access to the sun at least a few hours each day, adequate roof or ground space for the solar collectors, and some solar power generation equipment. There’s more, of course, but those are the basic requirements. It’ easier than you might think.…
Factors That You Should Consider Before Buying the Solar Pool Covers
Factors That You Should Consider Before Buying the Solar Pool Covers
There are many types of covers available in the market for your pools, to keep the pool protected from debris and thus clean and healthy, one of them being the solar pool covers. This is a great and highly cost-effective way to utilize solar energy for heating your pools. These covers are perfect for places having sunny climates as it can reduce the chemical as well as heating costs, and are also known as solar blankets. They look quite like a bubble wrap and are generally blue or silver in color.
These covers have many minute air pockets that transfer sun’s heat into the pool, and the heat remains trapped in the water. Since the heat gets trapped and cannot escape, the water is at amazingly comfortable temperatures in the cool nights. The swimming pool covers, can raise the temperature of the pool by almost 10 to 15 degrees Fahrenheit. This will definitely lower the heating cost of the pool and since evaporation is also reduced, there will be less chemical loss and thus you would need to spend less on chemical replacement. These covers come in various thicknesses, ranging from 8mm, 12mm and 16mm.
The thicker pool covers may cost you more but at the same time they are more durable and provide better insulation and heat transference. The color of the covers is an important factor that you need to consider while getting them. Almost the same amount of chemical and water evaporation will be prevented by covers of all colors; the heat shall not be transferred equally by all of them. The blur solar covers can block around 20-40% solar energy, the clear ones can block about 5-10%, thus it provides better heat transference. Yet another factor that you need to consider while buying the solar pool covers is if you have an in-ground pool or the above ground one.
Apart from the solar covers, there are various other types of covers that you may opt to purchase, like solid covers, safety covers, automatic covers, winter covers and thermal covers for pools. If you live in a place where the weather may get absolutely chilly and freezing, then you must get a cover for your pool, as slipping in of ice may destruct it. There are many websites that you may go through to know about the various covers offered and collect details about each of them. On finding the one, best suited for your pool, you may purchase it and place an online order.…
Renewable Energy Systems – A Householder’s Answer to an Energy Crisis
Renewable Energy Systems – A Householder’s Answer to an Energy Crisis
Most people are not aware of exactly how accessible renewable energy systems are to the common person. The popular misconception is that renewable energy systems are suitable only for governments and industry to use. The likely reason for this is the existence of huge hydroelectric projects, massive wind farms and the like.
In reality, there are many ways that the average person can benefit from renewable energy systems. In some cases, particularly in rural and remote areas, these are more viable options than getting electricity from the grid. Since renewable energy is made from natural resources, such as sunlight, wind, rain, waves and geothermal heat, the kind of power generator used will vary according to the local conditions. Solar energy should obviously be used only in places that get bright sunlight for almost the entire year.
These days increasing numbers of people are opting for renewable energy systems because legislation has made it financially more viable. Government offers tax rebates and in some cases, subsidies, to people who opt for these methods. This help to reduce the initial costs to some extent.
A person, who is really serious about generating electricity at home, either because of non availability of the grid or due to high power costs, has many options these days. There are many ‘do it yourself’ generator kits available, most particularly for solar and wind power. These help to reduce installation costs, as does buying second hand units. As the demand for these small sized generators increase, the unit cost decreases. At the same time there is increased investment in developing the various technologies further, thereby making them more efficient and less expensive. At the rate at which this is happening, the percentage of households which depend on renewable energy systems will keep increasing, making them even more financially viable.…
Solar Energy Unleashed
Solar Energy Unleashed
Since the dawn of time, man has attempted to harness nature. It’s something of an obsession. We’ve cultivated crops, domesticated animals, built cities, dug up fossil fuels, and even landed on the moon. But, the most common and powerful source of energy at our fingertips has been ignored by many executives and innovators for far too long. Until very recently, solar power has been a passing “fad” that only the most die-hard of green energy converts and NASA would tout and yet the technology never died. It continued to develop, to innovate, and to become more efficient.
The first solar cell was created in 1941 by an enterprising American working with silicon named Russell Ohl. It’s been 70 years since that first breakthrough and solar technology has come a long way. Cars have been built with solar cells. Houses have been taken off the energy grid with solar and wind energy sources. You can go out right now and buy your very own solar energy kit and start tapping into that great big orb in the sky yourself.
Technology is a wonderful thing. It provides endless opportunities and with the world realizing with increasing urgency that our traditional energy sources just aren’t cutting it any longer, solar is finally coming into its own. This is a soon-to-be multi-billion dollar worldwide industry.
And, with the right tools and knowledge in your back pocket, you can be at the forefront, heating your water, powering your garden lights, or even bumping your entire home off the energy grid once and for all with green energy.
And it all starts with knowledge – the basic facts about how this innovative technology actually works and why you haven’t heard nearly enough about it in the last decade as our oil prices have skyrocketed.
It’s Not Just Solar Cells
If you’ve never heard anything else about solar energy, you’ve probably heard about or seen those foil lined, shiny surfaced solar cells that sit atop businesses and schools. They’re called photovoltaic cells and they are just one form of technology at our finger tips used to convert the sun’s rays into a viable, usable form of energy for our homes, electronics, and cars.
But, with the right technology, the sun can be used for all sorts of other energy transference. The dream of converting your entire home to solar dependency doesn’t have to be hard. You can ignore the critics that say it’s a passing fad or that the savings take too long to manifest.
Other technologies exist that provide opportunities to save money, and do your part to minimize your carbon footprint. We’re talking about:
• Solar Hot Water
• Solar Collectors
• Active Solar Space Heating
• Photovoltaics
And that’s just the solar side of things. You can also boost your natural energy sources by utilizing wind power and by cutting back on your current consumption rates. This guide will touch on all of these topics and more as you attempt to learn what it will take to stop using your share of the fossil fuels in the world and cut back to strictly natural, renewable energy.…
What Is Your Alternative Energy IQ? This May Appear to Be a Trick Question
What Is Your Alternative Energy IQ? This May Appear to Be a Trick Question
The other day, I was reading an interesting article which had a title something to the effect of; “What Is Your Solar Energy IQ?” Well, being somewhat intrigued, I looked over the series of questions, and I knew most of the answers, so I didn’t bother to check the results which were on the next page upside down, you know how they do that in the newspaper. None of the questions had anything to do with what solar panels are made out of, where they come from, how they are manufactured, or the current efficiency levels available to the public. Okay so let’s talk about this shall we?
The reason I am bringing this topic up is I’d like to ask you another question; “What Is Your Alternative Energy IQ?” Consider this a trick question because what I’d really like to ask you is if you truly understand how much energy is packed into those fossil fuels. You see, many people don’t understand that coal, natural gas, oil, gasoline, diesel fuel, and jet fuel have quite a bit of BTUs and energy packed in a very small area. It’s very hard to compete with that. What people don’t understand is that solar energy technologies are already 50% inefficient before they start, simply because the sun does not shine at night.
When you hear someone say that today’s solar panels have 18% efficiency, remember that since the sun does not shine at night that’s really only 9%. Therefore it takes quite a bit of area and coverage to get the energy you might need to run something like an air conditioner, your computers, your TV, and your refrigerator, not to mention other high usage items such as microwaves, washers and dryers, or charging up an electric car. Likewise, wind energy sounds pretty brilliant, but generally speaking the wind does not blow all the time, and when the wind is blowing less than 12 miles per hour these wind turbines aren’t making a whole lot of energy at all (most configurations).
It’s not that I want to burst anyone’s bubble because I realize that global warming has become somewhat of a religion, and the alternative energy sector is supposedly the answer, and everyone has bought into this need without realizing the reality of the energy component. You cannot dismiss physics, no matter how much you believe in hope or change, or moving forward and progressing. Some things just work better than others. That’s the reality of our universe and physics. You can’t dismiss centripetal force when you’re driving your car, nor can you dismiss gravity when you get up on a ladder to change that light bulb in your home.
Speaking of which, if you really have a high alternative energy IQ you wouldn’t be sticking that $28 ultra-efficient light bulb up your butt because it might break off inside and cause you some real pain. Tell you what, why don’t you go and learn a little bit about energy and physics before spouting all of your alternative energy ignorance online. Indeed I hope you will please consider all this and think on it.…
Benefits Of A Solar House
Benefits Of A Solar House
Solar house is based on passive solar design of buildings where walls, windows, floors, roofs, passages are so designed to collect, store and distribute solar energy in the winter and reject the same in the summer thus keeping the interior environment appropriate. It is called passive since it does not require any mechanical or electrical devices to keep the inside temperature amiable. The best use of local climate is made. The windows are so placed, the walls are so slanted and angled, the roof is so sloped and the floors are so glazed that all elements make the best use of available thermal mass and shading. Thermal conductivity and thermal insulation of construction material play a vital role. Even existing buildings can be retrofitted and renovated to attain the essential features of a solar house.
We find wooden houses with wooden flooring and twin walls with air insulation in locations of cold climate. Such technology was available since ancient times when applied science was not in print. Now, a kind of perfection is being attained in building solar house by incorporating thermodynamics of heat transfer where adiabatic and isothermal cycles are key factors. The principles of climatology are followed. Site, location and layout become important for capturing or avoiding solar radiation. Prevailing rain conditions and wind rose are kept in focus while designing the building. All these elements are fed for computer modeling.
A solar House is the first stepping stone towards green living. If there is space available, then one should aim towards maintaining a green belt of trees and bushes in such a way that this also provides the necessary shading and desired insulation from solar heat during summer season. Conversion of solar energy into electrical energy through photovoltaic cells will reduce electricity generated from nonrenewable resources. In line with this, solar water heaters and solar cookers are other implements that go well with manufactured energy saving.
Research Institutes such as the Passive House Institute in Germany have taken a step towards perfecting solar living in which one lives in a solar house utilizing all known resources of passive heat to be utilized to minimize energy usage. There is a Passive House Planning Package (PHPP) which certifies a house to be a solar (passive) house only when it meets the criteria set by its current revision. One of the criterions is that the annual specific heat demand should not exceed 15 kWH per square meter ampere.…
So What is Green DIY Energy?
So What is Green DIY Energy?
Green DIY Energy projects allows people with less financial resources to reap equal benefits as those with them. Fossil fuels are being depleted fast by the world’s ever increasing population. Not only do they do they harm the environment during the excavation process, but also while being burned to create energy. Soon, renewable energy sources will take over as the main source of the modern world’s power.
Besides the actual power source used, green energy is used in the same manner as nonrenewable energy. They are both used to create electricity, power cars and the like. The main difference between the two is that green energy is not exhaustible, stable, and great for the environment.
The use of fossil fuels has caused the degeneration of the environment as a whole. While they were originally used in moderation, the explosion of the earth’s population has led to severe pollution. To use renewable energy, all one needs is to employ readily available natural resources. Water, wind and the sun are the largest sources for green energy.
Solar energy, wind energy, and vegetable oil fuel have been used successfully to create alternative energy sources for years now. While solar energy and wind energy come from naturally occurring resources, vegetable oil fuel is slightly different. Used cooking oil is used in modified automobiles to power them instead of gasoline. None of these power methods contribute to further polluting the environment.
The single biggest deterrent of using alternative renewable energy is that is that it can be very expensive to install. The best solution is to select a power method and doing it yourself. Money can be saved in the beginning as well as overall by employing this method. Many new methods are being discussed and developed in the environmental industry.
While completing a green energy project yourself is rewarding, safety cannot be overlooked. These types of projects can potentially be dangerous if the right steps are not taken. Some power systems are placed on the roof and manipulating existing electricity systems is almost always needed. Make sure that all standard safety precautions are taken.
Green energy is the way of the future. There is a limited supply of nonrenewable energy, and it is steady dwindling every single day. The use of fossil fuels will have to stop either because there are no more, or because their impact on the environment is no longer acceptable. One day in the near future, renewable energy will be the only solution.…
Installing a Solar Panel on Your House – Is it Right For You?
Installing a Solar Panel on Your House – Is it Right For You?
Solar power is the next big thing. Now, more than ever, the world is trying to uncover new energy sources to use. Oil is running out! I hope from this you learn a little about solar power and are inspired to try it today! This alternate energy source can low power bills and air conditioning bills. So if this is what you want? Solar energy is right for you!
In short, solar power is the conversion of sunlight into electricity. In order for this to occur, a photovoltaic cell is used to change the sunlight to makes up the ever popular solar panel! In order for you to create energy, you will need to install a solar panel on your roof!
Think of how much sunlight your roof gets. On days that the sun is out, it is just beating down on the top of your roof. This energy can be transferred and as a result used as energy. Remember, if you are thinking about putting a solar panel on your roof, your roof needs to have direct sunlight. There can be no trees or large branches in the way that could potentially block sun from your panel.
Installing this on your roof would ultimately provide you with more energy and in turn lower your power bills. Also, doing this would lower your air conditioning bills. Think about it, if the sun is no longer beating down on the top of your roof, your air conditioning machine will not have to work as hard! Now you can lower those bills too!
Are solar panel kits right for you? Well, when constructing a solar panel on your roof you have two options. Option one would be to have a professional install the panel. This could easily cost over $10,000. Your other option would be a kit where it teaches you to build it and provides you with step-by-step instructions. I suggest going with the kit and installing it yourself as hiring a professional can get expensive fast.
Words of advice though, if building a panel interests you, do more research on the programs available to bring solar power to your house. Look at each program in depth and lastly just go for it! Go green today! This alternate energy source can low power bills and air conditioning bills. So if this is what you want? Solar energy is right for you!…
The Pros and Cons of Solar Lighting
The Pros and Cons of Solar Lighting
Anyone who reads the headlines or watches the news will already be well aware of the fact that the environment is in trouble. This is due to many factors, but among the biggest contributors to the world’s problems is energy consumption. One of the most significant ways in which energy is consumed is through electricity. Human beings need a constant supply of electrical energy, and the means of making it and delivering it into the billions of homes around the world has taken a huge toll on the planet.
Luckily there are clever people who have designed all kinds of alternative energy products, and one of the most popular of these products is solar lighting. Solar lighting fixtures come in an amazing array of styles and designs. They can be put to use within the interior of a home or garage as well as all around a property.
There are a few “pros and cons” where they are concerned, and generally the “pros” far outweigh the “cons”. Let’s consider the downside of solar lighting first. Currently, the majority of solar lighting fixtures rely on LED bulbs. These are supremely durable bulbs that offer an average life span of roughly sixty to one hundred thousand hours each. They are also impervious to freezing conditions, water and even impact or strong blows.
This means they are the ideal solution for an outdoor fixture, but where they don’t always satisfy the user is in their brightness. LED bulbs must be clustered together to obtain a brightness similar to a standard fluorescent bulb. There are currently many companies who are able to manufacture such fixtures as spot and flood lights using LED bulbs, so this means that the only real “con” to solar lighting is going to be eliminated within the next few years.
The many pros of solar lighting include its wide applicability, efficiency and ease of installation. There are gorgeous exterior fixtures for gardens and porches, there are utilitarian fixtures that provide excellent interior lighting in a shed or garage, there are even security lights with motion sensors or those with built in detectors for dusk and dawn.
Additionally, solar outdoor lighting saves tons of money and energy because it requires absolutely no hardwiring to an electrical supply of any kind. While reducing her carbon footprint, the owner is also saving hundreds of dollars on electrical services each year as well. Finally, solar lighting fixtures are remarkably easy to install and require very basic tools and skills to put almost anywhere in a home or business.…
Perpetual Motion Machines
Perpetual Motion Machines
Global warming is a serious issue not only here in the United States of America but all around the world. With the invention of many high tech devices and many automobile we cannot deny the fact that we can already feel the global warming. The temperature is rising and it can affect everything on this earth. And studies have been conducted to know the reasons behind global warming and it has been found out that the fossil fuel being used to give power to the technology we are using daily emits high level of carbon dioxide that reaches the atmosphere and causing greenhouse effect. Thanks to the invention of alternative energy sources that help people save money and prevent further damage of the environment. Energy alternatives like solar power, wind power and a magnetic generator are good for homeowners’ pockets and also for the earth. But which of these alternative energy sources is the best? Let’s find out.
How does solar energy work? Solar panels collect solar rays from the sun and actively change that energy to electricity. The great thing about solar energy is that it is free and abundant. While solar has many advantages, such a powerful and fail-proof source of energy also has numerous downsides.
Cost – Solar panels can cost you hundreds and thousands of dollars. It is said that a solar panel will pay for itself in about 20 years.
Weather dependent – Solar panels can only collect energy when the sky is sunny. Most solar panels won’t function very well with a high and hazy overcast weather. Aside from depending on the weather to make solar panels work your roof has to be free from obstruction like trees inorder to receive sun exposure.
What are the disadvantages of wind power? Over the years there has been many machines designed to convert the energy carried in the wind to usable electricity. This type of renewable energy has many disadvantages over its advantages.
Expense – The cost of initial setup for a wind power is too high for many middle-class families to be able to afford.
Noise Pollution – many people do not like wind turbines as they say they are too noisy.
Wind dependent – The turbines blades can be damaged during high winds when it is stopped and abruptly furled. And when wind velocities are too low they cannot generate power either.
Another alternative energy is the magnetic generator. There are many reasons why a magnetic generator is a good energy source:
Size – Solar panel systems take up a lot of space on your property. However a magnetic generator is contained in a compact housing that can even be stored in a cupboard or closet if not in use.
Convenient – A magnetic generator does not dependent on the solar heat or wind velocity, it can function on any present weather.
Low-cost – And another fabulous fact about magnetic generator is that it is the cheapest alternative energy in the market.
Low maintenance – using a perpetual generator is good for the pocket. You do not have to worry about the cost of its maintenance because it is durable and will probably last a lifetime.…