Home Solar Panel

December 30th, 2009

The Home Solar Panel is built with the same ability to collect the heat from the sun as those that are built commercially, only on a smaller scale. They are usually designed to be more aesthetic and often fitted to the roof with an adjustment made to obtain the best angle for the sun. 

There are basically two types that are designed for the use in the home, the PV Home Solar Panel and Thermal Collectors. The PV home solar panel provide electricity to just part, or all of your home, whereas the Thermal panels provide heat, to heat up either the water system, swimming pool or house heating. Both are using a source that comes to you free of charge and will never run out.

If you want to save even more money by building your own home solar panels yourself then why not look into an extensive set of step by step instructions PLUS videos on how to make your own Home Solar Panel.

 


So what is a kW and what does kWh mean.

kW simply means kilowatt which is a 1000 Watts.
kWh is a term we use to measure the amount of energy being used in 1 hour.

If you were to be running an appliance in the kitchen like a small 1000 Watt oven for 1 hour then you would use up 1kWh of power. The Electricity Company would then charge you for that 1kWh so depending on your company will depend on the amount you are being charged. The average American home uses 20 kWh of power a day whereas a home that has been designed for very high energy-efficiency will only use approx. 6kWh a day.

So will a Home Solar Panel that is rated at 1kW produce 1kWh of power, not quite. The panel is rated at that but there are a lot of other factors that effect it’s ability to produce.

The home solar Panels rating is what is called Standard Operating Conditions, (SOC) this rating is given to the panel after being tested in a laboratory, however, we all know that the elements in the real world like air temperature, shade, cloudy days, dirt on the panels, these will all have an effect on the production of power.

Generally the Home Solar Panel is designed to produce their rated power output at a temperature of 70 to 80 deg. Fahrenheit, or 21 to 27 deg. Celsius.

So with these natural factors hindering the panel to produce electricity from our sun, as well as the loss through the inverter (approx. 5%) a 1 kWh system will produce an output of approx. 750 Watts.

Here is a chart of what you can expect from your Home Solar Panel System.

1000W (1KW) Solar panel * 6 fitted – will produce an average of 4 kWh of power
Saving around 1.6 Tons of CO2 a year

1500W (1.5KW) Solar panel * 9 fitted will produce an average of 6 kWh of power
Saving around 2.5 Tons of CO2 a year
 

2100W (2.1KW) panel * 12 fitted – will produce an average of 8.5 kWh of power Saving around 3.5 Tons of CO2 a year

3050W (3.05KW) Solar panel * 18 fitted – will produce an average of 12.5 kWh of power Saving around 5.0 Tons of CO2 a year

 

So Will your solar system work at night
 

The answer to that is, the panels will not be converting at night with no sun, but depending on the Solar Energy system you have, you are still able to run your household at night.

These are the higher end systems and yes they are more costly. The reason for this, is the amount of battery storage you have to have and the need for more Solar Panels to charge them. Thereby increasing the overall cost.


And what about cloudy days.
 
Yes with the advanced technology today the home solar panel will produce while it’s cloudy, however, the production of electricity is less than when it is sunny.


How much energy can I expect from my Home Solar panels. 

This will of course depend on a few factors. The size of your installation, where you live, how much sun hours per day do you get, the location of the panels on your property and so on.

Many of the home solar panel systems will create enough energy to run the entire home. Other systems that are smaller can provide power for one or two rooms, or for a workshop etc. they can be designed to what ever size you like if you have the Thermo Collectors installed, you can provide enough heat to heat your swimming pool. So it is important to remember that by using Alternative Solar Energy, the home solar panel system can be customised to suite the size of productivity as well as the budget.


Where is the best place to install my solar panels

You need the home solar panels to be placed in a position to maximise the heat from the sun, to gain the most advantage from it’s resource. You don’t always have to have them on the roof, if the roof has too much shade, pick a spot even in your garden, that has the most sunlight and locate your panels there. You can even have portable solar panels enabling you to move them around. But it is best no matter where you place them, that they are set at the right angle depending on your latitude, to capture the suns rays perfectly.

If you want to save even more money by building the home solar panel system yourself then just take a look at this extensive step by step instructions PLUS videos on how to make your own Solar Panels.

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Solar Do it yourself

January 16th, 2010

Solar Do it yourself, or do you feel you won’t be able to?

 

You may get concerned if you think of what’s involved with a solar do it yourself project, assembling it all, and what other parts you may need. But I can assure you that it is first, very rewarding and second, it is easier than you might think. So go solar do it yourself and reap all the benefits…

There are some Items you will need for the Solar do-it-yourself system to be complete and these are as follows: there is the matter of the type of Solar Panels you will need. What will determine this is whether you will want to power your whole house or just part of it, (this is discussed in the home solar panel catagory so check out your options for this).
 

There is a set of instructions available as well as step by step videos for making your own Home Solar Panels and installing the whole system correctly. If you are serious about Solar Do-it-yourself then plans are available. This will help and ensure you do it right.

So once this has been decided, you will be able to workout how many panels you will need. You will need a battery or set of batteries depending on the size of your system, you will also need a volt meter and an inverter.


The Volt meter will let you know how much power is being produced by your system. This is important for you to know how optimized it is at any given time, It also indicates to you if it’s not producing then it might be time to clean the solar panels.

The inverter is the device that converts the current from a DC (Direct Current) from your battery to AC (Alternating Current) the same as the supply to your house, which all your appliances run on.

More and more people from all parts of the world have been able to build these home solar panels and are now benefitting from the results. The earth4energy set of plans have all the instructions and the videos showing you how it is done. In some cases depending on where you are, a 120 Watt panel can be built between $100 and $200.

Here’s a video showing a man Frank Bates, he now saves a $177.00 per month on power bills.

So go solar do it yourself, this way you are able to save an enormous amount of money, here are just some of the extra benefits you will be reaping!!

  • No power bills or bills that are considerably reduced.
  • Providing solar power for your home, that comes to you FREE from the sun.
  • Being independent from the power companies that currently supply you with electricity.
  • If you stay connected to the main grid your system can be wired in such a way that the excess power you produce can be fed back into the grid and YOU get PAID for it.
  • Not producing any by-products to pollute the atmosphere, doing your part to reduce the Co2 level in the air.


It doesn’t really matter wether you are male or female, young or old, heck a young boy made one for his school project. So if you want to convert to Solar do-it-yourself and save, if you can follow a simple laid out guide and watch some videos on your computer then you can be successful at this, some people have enjoyed making them so much that they have continued making them and selling them to members in their town, making around $350.00 a panel profit.

So the possibilities are endless and the skies the limit, just give it a go remembering that nothing is achieved by doing nothing.

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What are the real Solar Energy Advantages

January 8th, 2010

There are many Solar Energy advantages to be considered to run your home, one being is that it is categorised as Renewably Energy. This simply means that it doesn’t run out. The next day you have just as much chance of producing electrical power again because the source, the sun, will be there producing the same heat.

It is still the cleanest form of producing power that we know of. The Solar panels don’t produce any gas or by-products into the air and they have no moving parts, so there is no loss of energy.Because technology has improved the production of these systems then the cost has decreased quite considerably, making it a very cost effective method to produce power. Solar energy advantages definitely out way the disadvantages at least 5 to 1.

Once you have outlaid the initial cost, this being the only one that you will be up for, and your system is installed, you will incur no ongoing expenses to run it and depending the size will depend on how much money you will save on your Electricity bill.Some Governments around the world will also allow you to supply the normal Electricity grid and will pay you for that supply, this happens when you needed supply is less than what your system is producing on any particular day. Your Electricity Meter will actually go around backwards.

Because of its feasibility for the home owner to have their own little power plant, the Governments are supporting it, many of them providing Incentives, Tax Credits and Rebates for people considering this option. This will only help you recoup your money sooner.

The Solar Energy advantages has governments pouring much needed money into it’s development. America will soon have cities running from Solar power with huge areas, almost looking like a plantation of solar panels, These are slightly different from the PV solar panel, but still they are all collecting the energy from the sun and producing electricity. See This Video!




They realise that the dependency they have of foreign fuel, places them some what at the mercy of these countries that provide that fuel, so the research and production of this form of producing electricity will certainly continue.

If you want to save even more money by building the panels yourself then why not look into a step by step guide as well as a set of VIDEO’S on how to make your own Solar Panels. I don’t know about you but seeing the videos makes it so much simpler to follow.

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Alternative Solar Energy

January 4th, 2010

For many years, we have been hearing all about the depletion of the Earths Resources, and in spite of where we all stand on the issue of climate change, I don’t think any one would deny the fact that Alternative Solar Energy would be a great source of power for our society. Heres just a short video created by Leonardo Decaprio and the Tree Media Group and narated by Leonardo. Well it makes me think!
 

WE have been dependent on the supply of coal, oil and gas to produce our Electricity all over the world, and the dependence we have on importing these resources is something that I believe we would all like to change.

Acreages of Solar panels are being built producing enough Electricity through Alternative Solar Energy that will very soon be able to run cities. Although the house holder will still have to pay for their Electricity, it is independent and free for the company to produce that power, after the cost of set up of course.

Doing our part at the home can only help the situation, the technology for alternative solar energy today is so advanced and at the same time been made so simple that it has now become to install a system, that will provide enough power to run our entire home, if not then just a part of it.

The Advantages of Alternative Solar Energy are enabaling many people to experience FREE power from the Sun and because of that, lesser or no Electricity Bills. with some cases people actually recieving money instead of a bill because they have put their unused power back into the grid.

Still the only true way that we as home owners can be independent, and utilise the power of solar energy and be free from not only our power bills, but the Power Company themselves, is to install our own little power plant and produce Solar energy for our home. “The Sun shines on us too” that’s what I say…

Remember that you can save even more money by building the home solar panels yourself, switching over to the alternative solar energy will definitely be a step in the right direction. Just look into an extensive set of step by step instructions, PLUS videos on how to make your own Solar Panels. Your time is well worth the money you will save!!!

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