How to Build a Solar Panel » home solar power

How Much Money Do Solar Panels Cost Today?

admin — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 14:07:22 +0000

The thought of buying a solar panel can be quite exciting for many people. The reduction or elimination of power bills and the knowledge that you are doing your bit towards creating a cleaner environment are all things that can make you yearn for a solar panel.

But just how much does one cost?

As you may know already, the cost of the solar panel depends on so many things. Apart from the brand, the model, and the durability, the most important factor that determines the cost of a solar panel is the wattage of the panel. A complete solar panel is made up of several cells, which increase with required wattage. Therefore, the higher the wattage, the more the cost.

If you would like to buy a preassembled solar panel that you can use for specific purposes, then you simply need to go to an electric store or an online store and get one for yourself. Most of these panels are not designed to serve whole households. A 60 watt Kaneka solar panel will go for between $60 – $110 depending on where you buy them and how many of them you buy.

On the other hand, a 230 watt BP solar pane will go for around $535 while a 235 watt Sharp solar panel will go for $620.

If you want to install a solar panel in your house that will carter for most of your energy needs, then you will need to make a bigger investment. You will first need to know how many electricity units you consume every month. These units are measured in KWH.

Therefore, if you consume 600 KWH every month, your daily consumption stands at around 20 KWH per day. This means that you consume an average of 0.833 KW per hour everyday. Since the sun will only shine for 4 hrs – 6 hrs a day, it means that you have to get a panel which can generate 20 KWH within 4 hrs, (assuming that you are in a locality where it only shines for 4 hrs.) This translates to 5,000 watts of electricity. Throwing in an extra 15% to take into account power loses and so forth, you will need a solar panel that can generate at least 5,750 watts. The current price per watt of electricity is around $10 per watt. The total cost will come to around $50,000 or more.

Although this cost might go down if you do the installation by yourself, it is important to know that full installation of solar panels will require a huge initial investment on your part. However, the long term benefits of clean solar energy clearly outweigh the cost.

Want to Start Making Solar Power at Home? Check out these instructions for building your own solar power. Includes videos, ebook, diagrams, and all the plans you need to get off the power grid and start saving some green while going green.

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Solar Powered Cell Phone Chargers

admin — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 14:06:30 +0000

Have you ever been in a place with no electricity and has your cell phone go off because its battery is fully discharged?

Well, if you are like me, it must have happened to you many times. In this era of instant communication, you need to be constantly reachable. Lack of charge in your cell phone battery can cause you to miss out on very important communication. Fortunately, we now have solar powered cell phones chargers. The other good news is that unlike the large solar panels, these solar powered chargers are quite inexpensive.

How They Work

As the name suggests, the charger will use the light energy that it receives from the sun and then convert the light energy to electric energy (DC.) The electric energy will then charge your battery like any other cell phone charger. The length of time or the intensity of light that will be needed for your cell phone battery to be fully charged will differ depending on the technology used and the wattage of the solar cells.

If the battery has got a high wattage, then definitely the time taken to charge the battery will be low. On the other hand, if it happens that the solar cells have got have very low wattage, then it will take more time to charge the battery. It is for this reason that a lot of solar cell phone battery chargers are usually used as trickle chargers. It might require up to 10 hours of sunlight for your battery to be fully charged. Now this is the same battery that usually takes 1hr – 2hrs when charging using the power from the electric grid.

The way that you will place the solar charger also depends on the model of the charger. Some solar chargers are attached to the back of the phone so that all you need to do is to let the back of your phone face the sunlight.

Conclusion

As already mentioned, these solar chargers are not so expensive compared to the traditional chargers. However, you should be careful so that you do not simply go for the cheapest. The numerous brands from China can be quite cheap but useless.

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Green Energy Efficient House Plans

admin — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 14:05:43 +0000

Traditionally, energy consumption has never been a big issue when it came to designing house plans. This was something that was mainly looked at during wiring, installing switches, and so forth. And in doing this, little effort was made towards increasing the efficiency of the whole system.

Nowadays, things are quite different. There are many designers and architects who will help you design a house that is energy efficient. These plans will help you reduce or eliminate electricity bills in addition to helping you make a contribution towards fighting global warming.

Solar Panels

One of the things that you need to do is to plan your house such that you will have a place for placing your solar panels in a way that they will receive the greatest amounts of light. It can be quite difficult for you to set up a place for the solar panel if at all you have already built a house and had not planned for it.

Maximum Light

Another thing that you need to know and understand while you are designing your house, is to make sure that the house will receive the maximum amount of sunlight during the day. It is very unfortunate if at all you will need to switch on the lights of your house at noon. It is not only wasteful, but also stressful to the eyes.

To make sure that you make the maximum use of the natural light, it is important that you let the living room windows face north.

Proper Ventilation

Proper ventilation in your home will ensure that fans and air conditioners don’t need to run 24 hours in a day. Many homes will install oversized cooling systems which do nothing but increase the cost of electricity in the house making life to be unnecessarily expensive.

All in all, to have a truly energy efficient home is not a result of a one-day bout of creativity. It is not something that you start today and the finish tomorrow. It needs constant effort that comes after you have resolved that you will use as much natural energy as possible.

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How to Make Money with Green Energy

admin — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 14:04:49 +0000

Green energy has been known to be clean. Few people dispute the environmental friendliness of green energy sources such as wind and solar power. However, what many people fail to know is that it is possible for anyone – including you – to make money from green energy.

But how?

Solar Power Installation

Installation of solar panels and related accessories needs one to learn a bit about basic installation. Since this is something that one can easily learn from user guides and articles on the web, many people do it themselves instead of hiring other people to do it for them. Fortunately, there are so many other people who really are not interested in learning anything new about solar power installation. It is such people that hire other people to do it for them. If you take some time to learn about the basics of solar panel installation, you sure can make some money from green energy.

Make Money from Savings

If you take care of the cents, the dollars will take care of themselves. You can save a lot of money on power bills by investing in green energy. Although the initial investment can be quite a lot, you will end up recouping the investment in the long run from the savings that you will make.

Biogas Construction

Another common source of green energy is biogas. If you take some training so as you understand how biogas tanks can be constructed and maintained, you can really make a lot of money by installing these tanks in other persons’ buildings. Biogas tanks are usually preferred by institutions such as schools, colleges and hospitals. It is used to save a lot of energy especially in cooking.

When it comes to making money from green energy, you need to able to run the whole project as a business. You need to know how to market your products or services effectively. And although some basics skills can enable you to make a few bucks, you need to perfect your craft if you want to rise above the rest. This way, you will be confident that you will be able to face competition when it comes.

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How Does a DIY Solar Closed Loop Hot Water System Work?

admin — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 14:03:08 +0000

A do it yourself water heater can look like something that is a bit intimidating. However, once you have understood the concept of a closed loop hot water system, you will realize that it is not such a hard thing after all. In fact, even if you don’t have any understanding of how solar systems work you can build a pretty long lasting hot water system with just a few items.

What Is A Closed Loop Hot Water System?

The principles of construction and operation of a hot water system will determine whether it is closed loop or it is open loop. Apart from these two modes of classification, there are many others which we shall not look at in this article.

The main principle of a closed loop hot water system is that it provides anti freezing mechanism throughout the year. Assume a situation where water is heated in one tank and stored in another: what would happen when the water in the tank freezes during the night?

The solution to this challenge is to ensure that instead of heating water, you heat a non-toxic substance that cannot freeze at temperatures that can easily cause water to solidify. The non-toxic substance is heated by the sun, and then it flows to the tank and heats the water inside. It continues the flow, but the water remains static. And therefore no chances of damaging the pipe.

Since this method heats the water indirectly, this method is also referred to as indirect method.

Building One

To construct a closed loop hot water system, you need a collector, a double walled storage tank and non-toxic antifreeze. These items then need to be connected with pipes. One pipe should run from the collector to the space between the double walls of the storage tank. Another one should be placed so as to take back the antifreeze to the collector.

Another pipe should then run from the inside of the storage tank (where water is placed,) to the tap.

The cycle of heating the water will continue throughout the day, and the whole storage tank can stay for quite a long while. Although the use of locally assembled materials will work, it is advisable that use specially built commercial materials so that you are able to build a more efficient system.

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DIY Solar Heater for Swimming Pool

admin — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 14:02:22 +0000

Using electricity from the grid to heat your swimming pool can be an extremely expensive affair. The best solution to this is to install a solar heater for your swimming pool. This way, you will not have to worry about bigger bills whenever you want your pool heated. However, the initial cost of installing a water heater can be quite prohibitive for many. That’s why you should be able to install a solar water heater by yourself.

What You Need

½ Inch 2 CPVC pipes that are four feet in length.
Black aluminum plates of size 4ft by 4ft. These aluminum plates must have small groves, 4 inches from each other.
A stand (optional)
A pump
Two flexible pipes

The construction

Take one of the CPVC pipes and make tiny holes that are four inches apart on the pipe.
Take the second pipe and make a longitudinal split on the pipe. This will leave you with two pipes with semicircular cross-sections.
Seal one end of pipe in 1.
Attach the first pipe on the black aluminum plate making sure that the holes on the first pipe are fully aligned with the grooves on the aluminum plate.
Attach one of the pipes on the bottom of the aluminum plate.
Connect one of the flexible pipes to the top CPVC pipe and another one to the bottom CPVC pipe
Connect the pump to the pool and pump water into the top pipe.
Put the plate on a stand and let it face the sunlight.

How It Works

As the pump gets water from the pool, it directs it to the top pipe. This water then trickles down the grooves, being heated by the sun-facing aluminum plate. The water then gets to the bottom pipe and then redirects the water back to the pool. This cycle then continues until the whole pool gets heated.

This DIY water cooler is somehow basic and might need a number of improvements so as to increase its efficiency. However, this basic plan will go a long way to save you money that you would have otherwise spent on a commercial heater.

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Why is Solar Energy Important?

admin — Fri, 28 May 2010 14:00:12 +0000

The debate about the use of solar energy in our homes, industries, offices and even cars has raged on for quite some time now. However, there does not seem to be a clear path towards achieving greater usage of solar energy. Opponents of solar energy claim that the energy source is expensive and impractical. On the other hand, proponents of solar energy argue that investing in solar energy is investing in the future.

But just what is so important about solar energy?

A Clean Energy Source

One of the most important reasons why people are proposing for greater investment in solar energy is because it is clean. This means that it does not emit harmful gases or chemicals when it is being produced. Using energy from oil, coal, or nuclear power plants requires that you sacrifice a clean environment for energy. On the other hand, using solar energy allows you to have a clean environment and energy at the same time.

A Renewable Energy Source

Another reason why you should use solar energy in your house or office is because it is a renewable energy source. This means that you won’t have to worry about running out of stock. Unlike oil, coal, uranium and other natural sources of energy which can easily get depleted, the sun will continue to be there for as long as the earth continues to exist.

No Political Interference

You and I should also continue to pay greater attention to solar energy because it is not susceptible to political interference especially from other countries. When your country relies on resources from other countries to get energy, you can get stuck once the relationship between the two countries gets thorny. Prices of items like oil also fluctuate greatly when there are security concerns in oil producing countries and so on. However with solar, you won’t have to worry about this.

You might be thinking about reducing your power bills, acting on global warming, or even freeing yourself from bondage of international oil markets. Well, you are not alone. Solar energy might be expensive to set up, but the long-term benefits definitely outweigh the short-term costs.

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What Are Some Pros and Cons of Solar Energy?

admin — Wed, 26 May 2010 13:59:28 +0000

To many people, the desire to switch from the potentially catastrophic nuclear energy and the unreliable oil to a cleaner and less expensive source of energy is big. If you are like me, you are probably wishing that we could get a magical pill that will be able to solve the entire energy problem. One of the things that people – and maybe you – consider to be a magic pill is solar energy.

But just what are the pros and cons of solar energy?

Pros

Clean energy. In this era of global warming and a polluted environment, any source of clean energy is welcome. Solar energy does not emit harmful gases or chemicals as oil and nuclear power do.

Renewable. The other advantage of solar energy is that for as long as the sun exists, then solar energy will continue to be available. Unlike other oil and energy from nuclear power plants, solar energy is renewable.

Affordability. Apart from the fact that it is clean and renewable, solar energy is also advantageous because it is affordable in the long term. Although the initial costs can be quite prohibitive, you will not be required to pay power bills and hence it can turn out to be cheaper in the long run.

Cons

Despite all the advantages listed above, solar energy has also its own disadvantages which have caused it to be distanced by many.

High start-up costs. The installation of solar panels, inverters, batteries and so forth can be quite high for an individual person or small organization to make. It may therefore make sense for many people to go on paying their power bills as the entry costs are not so high.

Unreliable weather conditions. Solar panels get their energy from the sun. Therefore, if the sun refuses to shine as bright as you would want it to, the consequence will be that the power produced will be small and the energy insufficient.

Regardless of the disadvantages, there is still a great movement towards generating power solar panels. Huge investments are being made so as to come up with better solar panels.

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Looking for Clear Video Instructions for Building Solar Panels?

admin — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 21:25:51 +0000

Check out the Full Videos Here

Check out the Full Instructional Videos and PDF’s Here

Let’s face it. There is a lot of garbage out there, and I am seeing a lot of websites claiming to teach you how to build a solar panel. I have check out some of these offers and 9 times out of 10 have been disappointed. If you are going to TEACH someone how to make solar panels it should be as CLEAR as possible, and that’s what I love about the videos that Bryan has put together. He really knows his stuff.

So check out the demo video above to see what the quality of these instructional videos will be like. This will give you a sneak peak before you get involved with building solar panels. This is not for everyone, but it can be a great hobby and if you are trying to go a little greener, this spring is a great time to jump on board. Along with the videos you get updates and a PDF with clear illustrations as well. It will make you think you found that Staples “Easy Button”, but it DOES take a little but of work, if you are up for it.

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Water Fountain Solar Power Pumps

admin — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 14:40:52 +0000

At some point, water fountain solar power pumps could become the main highlight of your whole landscape. While most people use flowering shrubs and bedding flowers to redecorate their gardens, others decide to use solar fountains (considering they are reasonably priced). If you are still not sure about purchasing garden water fountains, the advantages that the water fountain solar power pumps offer might rapidly change your mind.

Some of the benefits that come with these pumps are their durability and affordability, there are less (and in some cases no) running charges, no installation charges and the pumps are also eco-friendly (they never employ renewable fossil fuels in their functionality). This means that when you are ready to buy your personal water fountain solar water pump, the pump will come as a self-contained unit. Although going with the power pack sounds like a better preference, you will still be free to purchase the direct power kit. Conversely, the former is better than the latter because it absorbs the sun’s rays and then stores the same energy for constant usage throughout the day and night.

Considering at that time you will not be using the main power, you will not contribute to the exhaustion of the earth’s resources. This means that there is no installation of electricity cables, no purchase of dry cell batteries and no hole-digging. Therefore, there should be no cause for alarm regarding hooking them up to a source of power that supports functionality and efficiency. Water fountain solar power pumps do not require a source of power, meaning you can install them at any place. All you need to do is look for a great garden spot where the pump is more likely to have the best impact.

The process involved in setting up water fountain solar power pumps is simple and in a short while you will have a functional fountain after you add water. These pumps are usually affordable and can still be able to carry out their functions after so many years. Although you might feel like redesigning your landscape, you can still have the capability of incorporating the water fountain solar power pumps in various garden regions. These pumps do not just boost the appearance of your terrace; they also make your garden appear attractive, neat and manageable. Considering these pumps are environmentally friendly, they do not really require any exterior source of power and therefore, they never increase electricity demand. All these facts about the water fountain solar power pumps explain why such pumps are undoubtedly the organic option of enhancing the garden ambience.

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