Posts tagged "building a solar panel"

Building A Solar Panel For Your Home

We use three sources of energy everyday that is harmful to us and also to the environment. In order to cook food and heat water, consume natural gas. Electricy is utilized in order for our equipment at home to work. Gasoline is for automobile or any other system used for transportation. These three energy resources are proven to have harmful effects to the planet. Therefore, we must make a move and use other replacements to save money and environment as well. To solve this problem, one answer is building a solar panel.

The sun is said to have abundance of power that can supply our energy requirements daily. Therefore, energy that is produced by the sun can be an alternative source that is safe to the environment.

You can benefit from the energy produced by the sun as long as you make your solar panel. On the other hand, there are some objects you have to reflect on when you construct a solar cell in order to effectively build one for your home.

The most vital thing to think about is the site where you are going to make your solar panel. The exposure of the solar panels to the sun needs to be considered for them to produce power successfully although they can be built in any area literally. If you have the skills of basic carpentry, required parts and appropriate tools, building your own solar panels can be started.

You ought to have electric stove, copper flashing sheet, sensitive micro-ammeter, metal shears sheet, alligator clip leads, table salt, and sand paper in creating solar panel.

Getting the materials required in making the solar cells should be done first. The box of the solar panel will serve as the skeleton so it should be made. Good ventilation as well as impermeable needs to be checked before producing the solar cells.

The wires should be connected appropriately because the series of the solar cells should be linked to each other by the use of silicon. These correctly connected solar cells have to be put together to the plywood panel firmly. You ought to form a gap in the plywood sheet and let the two wires that are not attached pass through it.

You ought not to leave a hole in the solar panel who like to create for moisture not to enter in. If you locate any break although it is small, you need to patch it up with a silicon. However, you must make a tiny break in the bottom to prevent the solar panel in collecting rain water.

In building a solar panel, you can save money and protect the planet as well and it is easy to make one. Having your own solar panel and seeing them generate power everyday will save you money.

Be the first to comment - What do you think?
Posted by solarmaniac - June 26, 2010 at 6:01 pm

Categories: Uncategorized   Tags: , ,

Renewable Solar Power – 60 Years Old & Still Full Of Energy

Solar cells have been with us now for almost 60 years. During that time they have evolved from large, expensive, technical curiosities into tiny cells that are affordable & efficient.

Photovoltaic cells originated from the Bell Laboratories in the 1950s as a spin off from transistor technology. It was discovered that when the suns rays hit a wafer of silicon it generates unexpectedly large number of free electrons. A panel of several silicon strips were made, placed in sunlight, the captured free electrons were turned into electrical current & the first solar battery was born.

Their first real test was in the 1960s with the emergence of space flight & their use as an efficient but very expensive power source for satellites. The growth of this wonderful technology is advancing every year. Today solar panels have evolved from inefficient, large panels into tiny layers of film that are now twice as conductive & designed to work with less sunlight.

Since the 1960s solar cells have steadily dropped in price from over a staggering $40,000 per watt to now around just $6 per watt & even below $3 per watt in large quantities with state rebates. Worldwide production and use of solar cells has been expanding every year by an average of 48 percent since 2002 & has become the world’s fastest growing renewable energy technology.

Harvesting this energy is greater than ever, it has become both a practical & economical energy source for use in homes, factories & farms, as well as a vast number of personal electronics, toys & gadgets.

Another popular & important fact is that solar energy is that it can save you lots of money & building your own solar panel is now relatively simple DIY project & cheap to do.

It enables you to take advantage of government refunds & even net metering (a great system where you can sell unused electricity back to the power company) & dramatically reduce your energy bills.

The New York Times way back in 1954 ran the headline that the invention of solar cells would `Lead to the realization of one of mankind’s most cherished dreams’. It was a bold statement to live up to but today solar panels are finally a practical solution to utilizing the sun’s energy, providing a clean, alternative resource that is environmentally friendly & does not contribute to global warming.

If you are interested in building or installing solar panels in your home then there is a wealth of information, advice & guides available online.

You don’t need to understand the physics of renewable solar energy to appreciate it’s appeal & after 60 years, it’s appeal & benefits are greater than ever.

Be the first to comment - What do you think?
Posted by solarmaniac - June 14, 2010 at 4:44 pm

Categories: Uncategorized   Tags: , ,

The Value Of Renewable Energy Development

For most nations almost all energy research and development expenses are usually allocated to nuclear power, that’s without doubt not beneficial given that nuclear power leads to very similar issues as fossil fuels do.

At this time there has to be more of a focus on renewable energy development, basically because it is only solution to consider if all of us wish to live in an environment that’s not dominated by pollution and greenhouse gases.

The study and development costs for nuclear power really should have been spent on discovering a solution in relation to renewable energy. If this was carried out the price of renewable energy technologies would be dramatically reduced and could perhaps be competing within the global energy market today without the need of subsidies and incentives needed currently to push renewable power development.

Many companies have began investing in renewable energy development and it’s seen as the ideal choice of the 21st century. Renewable energy is really a big market and lots of big investors would like to try getting a large slice of the pie and help the environment simultaneously.

Investors such as Richard Branson are funding researchers to find renewable energy solutions that will help the world end dependence non-renewable fuels. Big businesses also have invested in renewable energy and wish to bring about change. Including Wal-Mart, GE and Google. Google has actually invested in a 1.6 MW PV system at their head office which offsets about 30% of the buildings typical electricity usage.

You’ll be able to play your part in this development simply by doing all it is possible to incorporate solar power in your homes. You could consider using outdoor solar lights instead of electrical or gas lights, set up a solar hot water system in your house, keep an eye on the future developments in renewable energy, speak to your energy provider to learn how you can reduce your fossil fuel use and by installing technologies which use renewable energy.

The solutions are here – it’s only the electric companies that don’t want you to know these facts simply because then their multi billion dollar companies is going to be making a huge loss.

You should not accept that renewable energy is simply a passing fad – it’s a genuine solution to problems we will all have to face. You can do your bit to help solve the energy problem and reduce you energy bills by understanding and utilizing renewable energy in your home today.

 

Be the first to comment - What do you think?
Posted by solarmaniac - June 10, 2010 at 8:23 am

Categories: Uncategorized   Tags: , ,

Powered by WordPress Lab