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Posts Tagged ‘solar power’

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

By Jason Livingston-the operator of www.GreenLivingRocks.com where you can learn how to build solar panel, construct a homemade windmill, and begin living green.

It seems like the recognition of using solar power is rising every day.  And people are becoming more interested in how they can add solar energy to their lifestyle in inexpensive ways.  That is why solar panel kits are now available for a wide variety of solar applications.  Here are a few of the solar panel kits that you can obtain.

One of the most reasonably priced kinds of solar panel kits to buy is a 45 watt model, for around $200.  It is sizeable enough to run common home electronic equipment, like T.V.s and computers, and even to power lighting.  It will even charge a 12v battery so you can store its electricity for use at night.  The equipment is now advanced enough that the PV cells can generate electricity even on gloomy days.  And its little size (about 36inches square) makes it straightforward to find a suitable location.  Kits typically include the panel or panels, mounting hardware and wiring.  A few kits may include an inverter; otherwise you will have to buy that separately.

Other kits develop on that fundamental concept of assembling the panels, mounting hardware and wiring for more specific applications. For instance, solar kits for power boats may include solar panels, and array and mounting hardware that is made from stainless steel or other materials that survive exposure to salt water.  They may also include tracking apparatus that will position the panels according to the sun’s location.

Kits intended for cabins may consist of the basic solar panels and wiring.  But they may use a shaft mounted array and hardware so that the panels can be positioned in a clearing away from foliage.  And the kits might additionally include a battery back up system for cabins that will be off the grid.

Solar panel kits designed for R.V.s start with a simple set up that provides basic power for lights and trickle charging the battery.  Yet luxury RVs that contain a lot of electrical equipment, ranging from built-in global positiong to home theater systems, might need a system as complicated and complex as an off grid home.  And there are kits available for these extremes as well as many RV requirements in between

There seems to be a kit available for very nearly any solar panel you can think of for home-based, commercial or recreational use.  The best way to acquire them is to hunt online.  And the best way to pick one is to compare their features and customer service.