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Posts Tagged ‘solar energy’

Solar power is a safe and popular alternative source of energy. In simple words, solar power refers to the energy generated from sunlight. There are different methods for harnessing solar energy for your day-to-day needs. In recent years, there has been increased interest and talk about the benefits of solar power. The increased interest in solar power largely due to three factors: one is our escalating energy bills, second is our depleting fossil fuel reserves, and finally the environmental impact of burning fossil fuels.

Solar power addresses the concerns quite well because it uses sunlight for generating energy, which is available free, and it is harmless to the environment. This is why many domestic and commercial establishments are switching to solar power to meet their energy requirements. Moreover, solar power is of great value for use in remote locations where you do not have conventional sources of power. Solar power is also widely used by owners of Recreational Vehicles (RV) and luxury boats.

Solar Power at your home
Solar power is being noticed for its widespread use at homes. Solar powered lights are quite common for garden lighting and some people are using it even for indoor lighting. Solar power is undoubtedly a viable energy source for your home because it has no recurring cost and a very low, almost negligible, maintenance cost.

Photovoltaic Tiles for Your Home
The big concern regarding the use of solar power is the bulky size of solar panels. However, this concern has largely been addressed with the development of small solar photovoltaic cells and the solar photovoltaic roof shingles. The solar photovoltaic roof shingles or tiles look quite similar to your normal roof shingles and provide you the freedom from large solar panels.

You can use photovoltaic tiles to supply electrical power for your home use. This electrical power can be used to heat water, and even heat your house. Some people also use solar power to heat the pool. The solar power generated by the PV shingles is just like the normal power you use for your everyday needs.

Solar Water Pumps
Solar power is being used to power water pumps in remote areas. Although windmills used to be the main source of power for the water pumps, recently the solar power has increasingly become the preferred source.

The government provides grants to people for purchase and installation of solar power devices such as solar energy panels and solar photovoltaic singles. Using solar power really gives you a double benefit as you are not only preventing environmental damage but also you are also cutting down your electricity bills. If you are not able to use solar power for your house on your own, you still have the option of buying the solar power from the grid.

Learn how to create electricity and save your bills!! Read on how you can make your very own solar panels at your own home! small solar panels small solar panels

We are looking for an across-the-board solution for our present exorbitant consumption of gasoline and it seems as though there is none, at least for the present. We are looking at Ethanol additive to our present gasoline formulas, but this will only give us better miles per gallon and of course, much cleaner bi-products with its use. Ethanol becomes a temporary fix…at best. The reason, of course is the need for the corn base sugars(and other similar sugar and starch crops) to produce it. It is a simple deduction that it will eventually begin to deplete the food stock of our nation and also hurt our exports of these grains. We could, with the anticipated increase in need of our corn crop, grow the extra acreage that would be needed to meet any anticipated needs. We must keep in mind the amount of labor that would be required to accomplish this task. The question remains…Will the Ethanol approach keep the price below our present gasoline prices ?

All in all, we must accept the fact that we will not be able to have our gas and eat our corn muffins too. There are also other crops which can be used to derive the Ethanol fuel, such as soybeans, sugar beet, raw sugarcane, etc.. The fact still remains…the choice will be gas for our automobiles and along with this will eventually come a vast depletion of one or more of our key domestic and export crops. It does not mean that this scenario will eventually come to be, but without other renewable energy fuels developed in tandem, such as the Hydrogen based fuel cell to assist the Ethanol fuel approach, this could lend itself to some key food staple shortages. The final question may be…”Do we prefer wheels beneath
our feet, or food in our stomachs.” Common sense tells us that at this point in time, we must proceed with great caution. Granted, the very large south American country of Brazil has embarked on their Ethanol program for approximately a decade now, with fairly good results and have enjoyed the weaning from foreign oil. Will it ever be 100% remains to be seen.

Solar energy is one possible approach being tinkered with to produce Hydrogen in order to power our future power plants and it is hoped that electricity, which now helps to deplete our fossil fuels will help us to deliver the fuel needed to produce power for advanced “Fuel Cells” being developed to power the automobiles and trucks, etc. of the future.

Unfortunately, producing Hydrogen by using solar energy electricity is very inefficient. This being said, solar energy is fully renewable and therefore must be considered. Along with the Hydrogen fuel from Solar approach comes recent announcements of some breakthroughs holding great promise using Solar to economically produce the hydrogen needed for fuel cells for both the automobile and our industrial needs and not using up all of our food resources in the process.

Learn how to create electricity and save your bills!! Read on how you can make your very own solar panels at your own home! solar pannel solar pannel

There are many affordable options to convert your home into a solar home and solar energy technologies can supply for several different uses in a solar home.  Passive solar design can provide heating, cooling and natural light for your home.  Solar electricity options are available to power home appliances and solar water heating can provide hot water options for laundry and general household water use (showers, cooking, cleaning).  When planning a solar home it is important to consider which solar energy options are most efficient, and cost effective for your situation. 

A passive solar home utilizes home design to provide heating, cooling and natural light without the use of any special equipment.  A passive solar home basically uses the environment to accomplish great reductions in energy use.  A passive solar home uses construction materials and design to utilize the sun’s heat during winter months and block the sun’s heat during summer months.  There are several passive solar techniques you can use in a solar home, direct gain, radiant heat from sunlight passing directly into a living space and being absorbed by furniture, flooring etc and usually achieved with south facing window installations, indirect gain, involving an attached Trombe wall that collects heat and distributes it throughout the home by the use of fans, thermal mass, which are materials that naturally collect and store heat such as brick or stone, and passive cooling, which generally includes overhangs for south-facing windows to block the sun during summer months for cooling the solar home. 

Another feature often found in a solar home is the use of solar electricity.  Solar electricity is generated when photovoltaic cells are used to absorb sunlight and convert it into usable electricity.  The energy produced by solar panels must be converted to DC (household power) through the use of an inverter.  Solar electricity can be used to supplement metered electric already being received by a solar home or with the use of a battery storage bank, can be used as the only electric source for the home.  If the later is going to be used, it is suggested that owners of the solar home have a generator available for backup power.

Solar water heating is one of the most common uses of solar energy in a solar home.  There are two kinds of solar water heating available for solar home use.  The first is a closed loop system, which can be used in areas that are not prone to freezing.  These systems use water filled tubes that are heated directly by the sun.  A closed loop system uses an anti-freeze type liquid to collect heat from the sun and then the heated liquid is used to heat household water via a heat exchanger. 

Regardless of which steps you take toward converting to a solar home, energy efficiency is the most important attribute to a successful solar home operation.  Energy efficiency minimizes the need for heating, cooling and electricity.  Using higher insulation levels, more energy efficient windows, appliance and lighting than used in traditional construction, you will already be saving yourself a lot of money and energy.  However these changes may not be an option when converting an existing home into a solar home, so make any changes possible to your home energy efficiency and adapt other solar practices to convert your existing home into a solar home.

Solar energy panels have become more affordable in recent years making it a viable alternative energy option for savvy home owners looking for savings on their monthly utility bills and the environmentally conscious who also enjoy the financial advantage, but focus more on the benefits solar energy panels have on global warming and independence from fossil fuels.

If you are a beginner to the solar electric world, then you may be wondering what exactly solar energy panels are? It is really simple and yet fascinatingly complicated. Solar energy panels are also known as photovoltaic panels; photovoltaic meaning electricity from the sun. Solar energy panels work by collecting protons from the sun, which displace neutrons, and create a flow of electrons or electricity. An inverter converts the power generated by the solar energy panels from an AC current to a DC current making it usable in homes as a direct electricity supply.

You can use solar energy panels to heat your pool, workshop tools, greenhouse lights and fans or depending on you personal electric usage, your entire home or business. Most solar energy panels are designed to last 30-40 years and require little to no maintenance. Over the life-span of solar energy panels, the energy savings realized by the owner is enough to justify the initial cost of the system and prices are dropping more and more as a larger number of consumers express interest and make the change to solar energy panels or other renewable resources.

Solar energy panels for small applications can be purchased at your local hardware stores. These small versions are ideal for outdoor lighting, small water pumps and other outdoor tools. If you are purchasing a home size or business size system of solar energy panels it would be best to seek out a local retailer of solar energy panels or a green energy retailer in your area. There is also plenty of information available online about different solar energy panel providers.

Understanding the value of solar energy panels is the first step to becoming fossil fuel independent. As our traditional energy resources are falling into exhaustion, now is the best time to look in to solar energy panels for your home or business.