DIY Green Solar Energy

Corporate Social Responsibility News: Porsche’s Solar Energy Effort; Yale’s Microfinance Initiative

www.rethinksolarpower.info A basic explanation of how your solar panels for your home will work… This video answers the question, “How is solar energy used?” Copyright © 2007 BSW

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=David_Y_Gonzalez

Part One of Two: David Hill, managing consultant for the Vermont Energy Investment Corporation, talks about his solar energy recommendations to the 111th Congress at the EUEC conference in Phoenix, February 1. 2010.

The life on earth is dependent on solar energy and the smallest form of life like the microbes and plankton are also dependent on the solar energy for their survival. Solar energy is an environment friendly energy that is devoid of any carbon emissions which lead to pollution. It can be utilized productively and cost effectively across the world. You don’t have to reside in a desert to benefit from solar energy!

At present the inexpensive way to use the renewable solar energy in your homes in by using solar water heating systems or by making your own solar panels. This energy can be effectively used to warm your homes during winter and cool it during summer. The cold north European countries have been using solar energy from past several decades. The advancement in this technology has reached to the level where now, one can substitute it for the grid power. Some other facts about solar energy are:

Solar energy can be used to heat your swimming pools.

Industries are using solar energy to manufacture solar-powered vehicles.

NASA has successfully developed an airplane that can function entirely on solar energy.

How does the renewable solar energy work? Majority of the devices that are powered by solar energy use the photovoltaic cells, which produce electricity as soon as they are exposed to sun rays. These cells consist of panels which comprise of two layers and these layers become positively and negatively charged, once the sunlight falls on them. This leads to the production of electric current, which can be connected to the main supply of your house, and used to run your electric devices like computers, phones and blenders.

The amount of electricity produced depends on the size of the solar panel, strong sun rays and length of exposure to sun rays.

All this may seem like a rocket science, but the fact is that this is a very simple to make. You can start producing your electricity over the weekend. However for this you need to understand and follow the concepts, which are readily available on the Internet in the form of manuals or guides.

For starter, if we look at the cost of keeping a house warm and well light and cozy it is enough to make us flip the other way to the solar power energy system. What about when you run out of electricity, do you enjoy lighting candles well of course we all do sometimes but wouldn’t it be nice if you had a home solar power system in place ready to kick in anytime when you encounter these unpleasant moments. As we all know, the sun does produce and disperses a huge amount of heat on the surface of the earth. A lot of it goes to waste when not used efficiently to our advantage. Solar power can be strong enough to power machinery and it may comes as a surprise to you but the space shuttle uses solar panels faced toward the sun in order to be able to power the shuttle efficiently.

Ok but what about when it snows and rains, when the sky is cloudy and we don’t see a trace of the sun for days. You can safely rest assured that with the amount of knowledge the scientist have about solar energy and all resources made available to them, storing solar energy for rainy days is a walk in the park for them. It is possible to produce enough heat in your solar source to create enough energy to last until the sun shows up again. Solar power is the way to the future, we must educate ourselves, prepare and we need to be ready for it. Right now solar power is primarily used by those who are more aware and worried about our earth’s atmosphere. Global warming is a big issue that we should all be worried about.

Never the less solar power is being used around the globe. It is cost effective to have a home solar power system put in place. You can choose to have a company put everything in place for you while still keeping the old conventional ways to heat your home. You can use solar energy to power your appliances only or heater only. You could also do your own research as far as material needed to implement a solar power system in your home. There are great books, videos, DVD, teaching you how to build your own solar power system.

No matter how you look at it, the advantages of having a home solar power system outweigh the disadvantages, solar power energy is here to stay and will become very popular in household around the world, we are living in desperate times and finding ways to cut expenses to keep a bit of what we earn in our pockets is the way to go. The price it may cost you to have a solar system put in place or to build one yourself will pay for itself in a very short time.

Many households are considering of converting their home energy to be solar powered for the purpose of cutting down their electricity bills while saving our planet with this environmental friendly power source. But, not many are taking their action to make the real conversion to a solar-powered home because they are still doubt on the advantages of solar power that they can really get after the conversion while they do worry about the potential problems that may encountered after they make the conversion. Let briefly go through the advantages versus the disadvantages of solar power, so that you are cleared before you make your decision on whether to use solar-powered energy at home.Advantages of Solar PowerSolar power is a renewable source generated from the sun, meaning that the solar energy source is never going to finish. So, we do not need to worry about we may jeopardy of the energy source if you over use it.Solar power is environmental friendly energy source. Unlike oil, the use of solar energy will never causes green house effects or emits carcinogens into the air and causes the air pollution.The sun is FREE. Unlike the traditional energy source which you need to pay more if you use more, there is not limit on how much you can use the energy generated from solar power, and you do not need to think of the electricity cost when you use a solar-powered energy generator, because the sun is FOC (Free of Charge).Little maintenance cost on solar power system. Solar cells can last for a lifetime and because there are no moving parts, it needs very little maintenance. You do not really need to allocate significant budget for it maintenance cost.Disadvantages of Solar PowerThe key stopping factor that makes most of people who are interested to install solar power system is the total cost is expensive. A solar power system that provides enough energy to power an average sized home can cost anywhere from $6,000 to $20,000. Seeing the potential market demand on solar power system, the industries with continue research efforts are trying to reduce the material costs. Moreover, there are many simple-to-follow DIY instruction manuals had been made published to teach people how to build their own solar power system using cheap materials which can be found at local market.The solar power can be generated without sunlight, which means the power cannot be created at night, during rain and winter season when sun is hiding behind the cloud. This had been one of key discouragement of using solar power as the alternative power solution.If you build the solar panel at the roof of your home, it becomes part of the house. You may need to sell it together with your house if you decide to move to a new home. And you need to reinstall the solar power system at your new home.SummaryYou should clearly understand of both the advantages and the disadvantages of solar power system before you go ahead to convert your home to be solar-powered so that you can really benefited from the advantages of solar power while handling the disadvantages of solar power to minimize the impacts.

What would you do if the utility companies paid you for energy?
You, like me, probably didn’t even know that was possible.
What if you never had to pay energy bills ever again?
Again, something else I didn’t know was possible.
These two questions took me completely by surprise when I started doing research for this article. Especially since both questions pertain to solar power.
The Truth About Solar Efficiency
Everyone has heard about the benefits of solar power in terms of environmental conservation and lessening our dependence on imported fossil fuel. But these are both concepts that apply on a grand scale. It’s very hard to equate what this means to an individual. We have to examine the past, present, and future of solar energy, in order to see that there is huge promise for the future of solar energy.
I, for one, could not have begun to tell you what the hard facts were in relation to solar power until I started digging. It turns out that what we hear about solar energy is just the tip of the iceberg. Which are disappearing, I might add, to the tune of 20% during the summer of 2008.
A Brief History
Before we go exploring the ins and outs of solar energy, let’s take a look at how this force of nature has evolved over the centuries.
Solar technology isn’t new. It probably started some time in the 7th Century B.C., when people learned how to use glass and sunlight to light a fire. There is some evidence that ancient cultures across the globe have used glass and polished metals to concentrate the heat and light of the sun. This concept has been around so long that the Justinian Code of 6th Century A.D. decreed that every individual had “Sun Rights”.
Skip ahead several hundred years and you will find documentation detailing the construction and use of equipment that harnesses the heat and power of the sun.
Solar Power Today
Now that we know where we’ve been, let’s look at where we are.
Right now, all across our planet, governments and organizations are installing solar panels and contributing funds to further research into a renewable energy source that is hoped to rival conventional energy in the next decade.
In the future, we can look forward to more solar energy homes and cars that perform up to the standards we expect from traditional fuel sources. Right this very moment I am living in a house that has solar panels to heat my water, and it does get very hot. I do, however, worry about having hot water at 2 a.m. Not that I take showers very often at that hour, but a writer’s work isn’t always done when the sun sets.
Solar Timeline
The following timeline for solar energy from the U.S. Department of Energy, lists the milestones in the historical development of solar technology from the 7th Century B.C. to now.
* 700 B.C.
A magnifying glass is used to concentrate the sun’s rays on a fuel and light a fire for light, warmth, and cooking.
* 300 B.C.
Greeks and Romans use mirrors to light torches for religious purposes.
* 200 B.C.
As early as 212 B.C., Greek scientist Archimedes makes use of the reflective properties of bronze shields to focus sunlight and set fire to Rome’s wooden ships, which were besieging Syracuse. (Although there is no proof that this actually happened, the Greek navy recreated the experiment in 1973 and successfully set fire to a wooden boat 50 meters away.)
* 20 A.D.
The Chinese report using mirrors to light torches for religious purposes.
* 100 to 400 A.D.
In the first to the fourth centuries, Roman bath houses are built with large, south-facing windows to let in the sun’s warmth.
* 600 A.D.
Sunrooms on houses and public buildings are so common that the Justinian Code establishes “sun rights” to ensure that a building has access to the sun.
* 1300 A.D.
In North America, the ancestors of Pueblo people known as Anasazi build south-facing cliff dwellings that capture the warmth of the winter sun.
* 1700 to 1900 A.D.
Solar contraptions such as photovoltaic fiber, solar cells, and solar steam engines are invented. Eventually a water heater is power by solar electricity.
* 1900s
Solar technology improved thousands of times over, with a vast array of solar materials and solar collectors being constructed and implemented all over the world. Entire towns are powered by solar energy by the year 2000. Buildings are constructed with photovoltaic glass and green roofs, and are self-sustainable thanks to the advancements is solar power conversion.
* 2000s
Houses are powered with residential solar power systems sold in Home Depot, and NASA builds rockets and planes powered entirely by solar energy. Solar power is regarded as an inefficient possible solution to the upcoming oil issue.
* The Future
Within 10 years, continued advances in solar technology will allow us to generate all the electricity needed to power the entire US, and photovoltaic power will be competitive in price with traditional sources of electricity.
Solar electricity will be used in an electrolysis process that separates the hydrogen and oxygen in water so the hydrogen can be used in fuel cells for transportation and in buildings.
Pros and Cons of Solar Power
So this is where we must think about and examine the ups and downs of solar power.
* First, the sun is free. Once you pay for your solar panels, you are done paying to power your home. Conversely, the sun does take a hiatus. Even so, you can switch to battery power to take up the slack if you want.
* Second, if you have a system that produces more energy than you use, you can sell the excess energy to the utility company. But that usually requires you to live in a very sunny climate.
* Third, the cost of maintenance is very low. Since it is just a flat panel that doesn’t move, you don’t have to worry very much about mechanical malfunctions. Unfortunately, the initial cost of these panels can be very expensive and serves as a deterrent to buying.
I hope that these facts encourage you to look to the future of energy production. Environmental conservation is everyone’s responsibility. We all do what we can. Hopefully sometime soon it will be more cost effective. We can scarce afford to lose the only habitable planet we have and some species, like the polar bear, are already losing.

Home solar power is often considered as the most effective means of reducing your electric bills. If you wish to benefit through solar power energy, you need to be well aware that a home solar option is readily available through online stores. If you are tired of unreasonable power cuts and wish to benefit through a regular supply of electricity, you need to take advantage through home solar options. Listed below are a few advantages of opting for solar power energy.
Home Solar Power Is Readily Available
Solar power energy is abundant in nature and it is also said to be a renewable source for power generation. Hence, when the need of the hour is to pick suitable home solar power systems, you need to research well and then apply your facts to good use. Home solar options can be had through the means of a secured site and while most may appear expensive, there are a few which are really inexpensive and long lasting as well. Home solar power systems are also considered essential to meet your energy requirements as they are promoted by the government agencies.
Solar Power Energy Can Be Harnessed Through Your Backyard
The second advantage of a home solar option is that it can be harnessed through your backyard. Home solar power systems work on the basis of assembled kits which can be obtained through the means of the World Wide Web. Solar power installations can be ordered online. They come in the form of a kit, which has an instructions manual as well. Simply follow the manual book and you can ensure that your solar power installations are in perfect order. Solar power kits have the ability to be used and built from home. Hence, they can be utilized by just about any human being-you need not be a technical viz to harness solar powered electricity from home.
Solar Power Cost Is Very Low
The third advantage of setting up a home solar power option is the saving in terms of electricity bills. Solar power cells, which are used in producing electricity, are affordable and long lasting. Once you have them installed in your roof, you can be rest assured that they would carry on for the rest of your life. You only cost is the initial purchase of the solar powered kits and the installation charges. Nowadays, there are solar power kits which are available for under a hundred dollars. Such options can be had through the means of a reputed online manufacturer only. Thereafter, the total cost of power generation is nil and you not only generate power for your home, you also never actually spend a dime while doing so.
Solar Thermal Power Is Pure
With the rise in air pollution and the reduction in the ozone layer, the chances are that your conventional sources of energy may prove to be a hindrance to the future generations. This is when solar thermal power comes into picture. Over here, not only are your electric bills reduced drastically, you also have a chance of keeping your environment neat and tidy. This is so as solar energy is a clean energy resource and it does not emit any harmful chemicals in the atmosphere. Hence, whenever solar energy is produced from home, it is considered a blessing in disguise for the environment.
Solar Power Cells Are Noiseless
As compared to the usual sources of energy, the solar power cells, which are generally used in a solar powered grid, are noiseless in nature. Hence, if you are using solar generated power for your household uses, you are indirectly saving your environment from excessive noise pollution. At the same time, the energy which is generated is never wasted and can be easily stored for future use.

How to build your own Home Solar Energy or Wind Turbine Power Plant. floydbogart.com www.tripika.net