If you want to go green you might be asking “How much do solar panels cost in this energy hungry world we live in?”  Well, depending on the size of the solar panel unit you are looking for, you can spend upwards of  $750-$900 for one 200 watt solar panel.

Now one 200 Watt solar panel may cost a lot but it will not get you very far if you want to go completely off grid with solar power and start using the energy of the sun to get the power company to start paying you.  It’s a good start though.  But in tuth, you would need at least 20 of these panels to go energy independent, and that figure really depends on your lifestyle as well.

The cost of solar panels has only been going up.  The demand for these panels has been higher, but since the demand for the materials to make them is also high, the supply cannot keep up.  Eventually the prices of new solar cells and panels should be going down, but in the mean time you can learn everything there is to know about solar power.

Make sure you check out the free ebook offered in the right hand column of this blog too.  It’s basic, but it will be helpful if you want to know where to begin to start using green power in and around your home.

Because the price of these panels is high, some are resorting to building solar panels themselves.  You can learn how to build a solar panel by checking out the link provided.  It all can be done for under $200 and once you learn how to make one you can make them over and over again.  Compare this to the cost of buying a new one and it will seem like a very easy decision.  But you want to make sure you are a hands on person who loves projects like this and is willing to put in a few hours to get the job done.

One thing is for sure… making solar panels will always be a much cheaper alternative to buying them and getting a company to install them for you in your home.  Everything from the batteries needed and the installation is all covered in the ebook guide in the link above.

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.

The Pros and Cons of Going Solar

Solar power is simply the conversion of solar heat and light into usable energy. Solar energy is currently used on almost all spacecraft, and earthbound use is increasing with homes, businesses, government buildings, educational institutions and more all making use of solar power. For those considering solar power there is one obvious question: What are the advantages and disadvantages of going solar?

The advantages of going solar are almost too numerous to name. The first major benefit of converting to solar power is the positive environmental impact it will have. Most power taken from the grid comes from coal or nuclear plants that either result in harmful greenhouse gas emissions or unsafe nuclear waste. Solar power on the other hand is totally emission free and has no negative impact no the environment. The other major benefit of converting to solar power is the long-term financial savings it will provide. There is no per-unit cost to obtain solar power since it comes directly from the sun, so once a solar power system is in place it will provide energy at no cost, regardless of how much is consumed. This is in stark contrast to energy taken from the grid that is metered and billed to the consumer depending on the amount consumed.

The obvious disadvantage of converting to solar power is the up-front cost. It can be expensive to purchase all the equipment required to collect, convert and use solar energy. In years past this has been the main obstacle to people switching to solar, but there is good news on this horizon. As with most technology, the cost of producing solar power generation equipment has gone down as the technology has improved. This has greatly reduced the cost to the consumer so that solar power use is now growing at a rate of about 25% per year. Solar power is much more affordable to the average consumer than it was ten years ago. The other caveat to the up-front cost of solar power is the government incentives that are now available. As the spectre of global climate change looms, governments are looking for ways to encourage their citizens to be more energy-efficient and environmentally friendly. This means that there are now many rebate programs through which consumers can have some of the cost of solar power generation equipment refunded by their government. There are also programs in which excess power can be sold back to the grid or to power companies. For some, this means that using solar will not only eliminate some or all of their electricity bill, but that it will be paying them on a month to month basis!

In conclusion, the benefits of going solar are many and varied. While there is the disadvantage of up front cost this is more than made up for by the long-term benefits to both the environment and your pocketbook. It is these advantages that truly make solar the wave of the future.

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The History of Solar Power

Solar power can be defined as the use of heat and light from the sun to perform useful tasks such as heating, lighting and electricity production. These days solar power is on the tip of everyone’s tongue as it is poised to be one of the main long-term replacements for traditional energy sources such as fossil fuels and nuclear fission. Given its importance in the modern world, it is important for the average consumer to have some background knowledge about solar power – where it came from, how it works and how it may affect them. This article will examine the history of solar power, from the earliest uses of the heat and light from the sun to modern applications such as photovoltaic cells.

In some sense humankind has always used solar energy. On the most basic level solar energy drives the life cycle of the earth by providing energy for plants to perform photosynthesis. Humans obtain vitamin D through exposure to sunlight. Our early human ancestors learned that dwellings could be heated by orienting openings toward the sun. Ancient sites around the world that appear to act as calendars show that ancient civilizations had an intimate knowledge of the sun’s position and its behaviour through the course of the year. Legend has it that the ancient philosopher Archimedes used solar energy reflected from a giant mirror to repel an invading fleet. The importance of the sun and solar power in early times points prophetically to our future.

The idea of manipulating solar power in a mechanical sense has its roots in the last two hundred years, with the development of photovoltaic cells. Charles Fritts developed the first such cell in the 1880s, but the concept behind solar power generation was not discovered until 1905 when Albert Einstein published a paper on the ‘photoelectric effect’. This discovery paved the way for more and more efficient solar power generation, as the physical mechanism behind solar power was finally understood. Solar power equipment was developed steadily for the next fifty years as researchers incrementally improved the amount of sunlight that was converted to electricity. A major milestone in the history of solar power occurred in the 1950s, when both the American and Soviet space programs began using solar power for spacecraft – an obvious marriage as solar power is in abundance outside of the earth’s atmosphere. By the 1960s most of these spacecraft were operating on solar power alone.

Beginning in the 1970s rising oil prices combined with the decreasing costs of solar power generating equipment meant that solar power became a more viable option for those with no grid access. Over the next couple of decades environmental concerns such as global climate change, the depleting ozone layer and diminishing air quality helped make renewable energy sources such as solar power more attractive options to conscientious consumers. Today solar power is a real alternative for homeowners looking to make a long-term investment and do their part for the environment. Solar power is poised to begin providing a larger and larger percentage of the world’s energy needs in the coming decades.

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The Sun on the Earth.
Space solar power (U.S. Space-based solar power, SSP), a term closely related to solar power satellites is the conversion of gained solar energy in space in any other type of energy (mainly electricity), which can be used in the space or can be transmitted to Earth. Since the mid-twentieth century photovoltaic panels have been used in space aboard space satellites to generate from the sunlight the electricity needed for its operation. The novelty of the concept of SSP is the idea of acquiring power on a large scale in space and transmitting it to Earth for consumption on the surface of the planet.

Solar energy is a renewable energy and inexhaustible source and therefore has the potential to resolve the socio-economic and environmental problems associated with dependence on fossil fuels and nuclear energy. Space solar power presents pros and cons compared to other energy sources, especially regarding its earthling alternative. The use of panels in space is much better than the panels on land, since the former are not affected by the attenuation of solar radiation on the Earth’s atmosphere or by night phases, nevertheless the solar energy must be transmitted over long distances resulting on energy losses. Furthermore, the space solar power would have the advantage of being located outside the earth ecological system, creating virtually no waste once it is in operation.
The biggest obstacles to develop SSP systems is the high cost of placing the panels in orbit and some technical barriers, especially the low efficiency of photovoltaic cells when working at high temperatures and the difficulty of transferring solar energy to the surface of the Earth. Since the late nineteenth century when the theoretical foundations of photovoltaic technology were laid, the development of all involved technologies has been remarkable. At present, teams of researchers in Europe, U.S. and Japan are working to make this technology possible someday.

For the SSP several possible applications have been proposed as well as various technological options, such as the type of satellite or frequency of energy to Earth. Likewise, questions such as possible environmental effects from the solar energy transmission to Earth, the life expectancy of the panels in space, the return of the investment on time and the role the moon could play still do not have a clear answer.

The main beneficiaries of such technology feat would be that many communities could use the space solar power for their energy networks. Terrestrial solar power stations already exist throughout the world. But sunlight is eight times less intense on the earth’s surface than its geostationary orbit. So why not to pick it up in space and direct its energy to Earth via microwave energy rays that can penetrate the atmosphere more efficiently?, U.S. researchers are asking.

These researchers have proposed mega satellites – possibly giant inflatable structures of photovoltaic dishes and antennas – that would do just that. At the receiving stations on Earth, the beam could be converted into electricity or synthetic fuels, which, in contrast with the energy of terrestrial solar power stations, would flow continuously to the network regardless of the season, climate or location.

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Alternatives to Full-Scale Solar Panels

There are a lot of reasons why a full-sized residential solar power system may not be right for you. Maybe your homeowner’s association won’t allow full panels on your roof. Maybe you don’t want to take on debt for a solar power loan. Maybe you have an older home that your local historical society won’t allow to have solar panels. Even though you can’t get the full solar system, there are many other ways to use solar power and significantly decrease your energy costs.

If you live in a home with significant heating costs, then you should consider a solar-powered heating unit. These units are placed in the wall of your home with an outside solar panel that collects sunlight. The units then convert the solar power to run the heating unit, which pumps out cold air and allows warm air inside the room. These units can heat up to 750 square feet each. If you installed one in each of your rooms with peak sunlight during the day, you could feasibly heat a 2500 square foot home or less. A good place to buy these versatile wall solar units is from GroSolar, who can also install these units quickly and inexpensively. Or, if you’re handy with tools, you can install these systems yourself.

Everyone uses hot water, whether you’re taking a shower or washing dishes. Solar water heaters are the biggest selling solar item after full-scale solar panels. It’s estimated that over 1.2 million homes have solar-heated water tanks, and most states will give you a rebate or a significant tax credit after you’ve purchased one. When you purchase a solar hot water heating system, you will need to purchase solar panels as well but not as many panels as a full-scale home solar system. Better yet, solar hot water heaters integrate into your existing hot water heater to ensure you never run out of hot water-even on cloudy days.

New systems have come into the market in the past several years that will revolutionize the way America cools and heats their homes. SolCool has created a solar-powered HVAC system that’s strong enough to run most home applications. Plus, SolCool’s HVAC system has a built in charge distributor (which helps keep the battery longer) and can be used directly with solar power systems, or on-grid for net-metering.

If you’re not keen on installing an entirely new HVAC system, you can also purchase small solar-powered air conditioning units for those hot summer days. The best rated unit is from Greencore, and their best system can cool a 600 square foot room. These systems can be connected to the electrical grid, or they can run directly off an existing set of solar panels.

As solar systems grow and advance, there are some easy products most people can buy until they can afford a full solar power system. You can lower your electric bills over 50% using solar-powered appliances such as these!

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Even in 21st century, it comes as a surprise that we still are dependent on age old methods for generating electricity. In olden days, i.e. few decades ago, we have used oil, after its discovery. From then, there was so much of development in the technology, which could have been used to develop methods for generating electricity.

But even now we are so dependent on oil from foreign land; it’s not the place where the USA, the powerful country of all should find herself. But that’s the fact. In 2008 the reality about our livelihoods, our futures even our very lives are in control of oil producing nations.

The position of Unites states on energy generation is sad. From several decades we are having solar technologies. But only from the recent past it started to develop with a full pace, which should have started much earlier. Sun alone can provide so much of energy, it is sufficient for each and every country. We are wasting this energy for so long, which should be in use long ago. Global warming- It is getting recognized finally by the people, who once argued that there is no such thing called Global warming. Its time for us to develop few things like solar wind, others include ‘green’ technologies, that should put all of us in 21st century, not only in numbers, also in energy production.

Many people think that getting systems used for generation of solar power is financially difficult for them. It is true in the case of commercial systems for home, but we can built an alternative in home, with nothing but common tools, little bit of common sense. With these any one can built their solar panels, which may not look as good as a factory make. Finally the point is, they will serve their purpose and will generate the electricity.

If we do our part in changing things around here, Earth will be a place where our future generation will inherit and they will be live happily. If the things continue like the present situation, then no one will be left behind to take over. Global warming affect will be upon us, which is very much real, if things around here doesn’t change in next decade, it will be too late.

By building some solar panels in your free time in your garage or basement, you will not only participate in reducing the effect of global warming, also you can save money and reduce most of the paying to your utility company.

It’s in your hands now to build these solar panels, so as to avoid monthly electricity bill. It will be even better if utility company pays you for surplus energy you generate. Please do your responsible duty, as citizen of earth. It requires only a little amount of effort and not more than $200 for construction of one solar panel, which generates electricity for years to come. Then start your own home built power generator from solar energy today.

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.

The first aircraft manned and powered by solar energy will go around the world by 2010 after overcoming the technical difficulty of flying at night, a difficulty that made the NASA Helios project fail, in 2001. The prototype, led by a Swiss adventurer, is covered with photovoltaic cells and need heavy batteries to store energy to continue flying during the night. Both engines on the tail will help the take off to help and will charge the batteries. The project aims to demonstrate that sustainable development is not incompatible with progress.

Solar Impulse

The Sun is a source of infinite energy and will serve to fuel a new generation of aircraft thanks to the vision and tenacity of a Swiss adventurer called Bertrand Piccard.

This is the Solar Impulse project, which is building a plane to fly around the world powered only by solar energy. This trip would be taken by Piccard and his colleague Brian Jones. The two adventurers made the first balloon flight nonstop around the world, in 1999.

Creators and supporters of the project believe that the future of our planet depends on the development of new technologies more than the reduction of our mobility or our quality of life. In this way, the Solar Impulse intends to assist the progress, albeit in a non-aggressive approach to the environment.

Efficient energy alternatives

The European Space Agency (ESA) has made available to the Solar Impulse the space technologies in Europe through the Technology Transfer Program. The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, is the official scientific advisor to the project. Solar Impulse’s intention is to promote the use of alternative energy in aviation, in this case the solar infinite energy, clean compared to polluting and finite fossil fuels that are used at present. Although the design of the aircraft could never carry too many passengers, Solar Impulse is after awakening public interest in those technologies capable of sustainable development. The sun is the main energy source of the satellites, as well as for Piccard’s plane. The European space industry has developed some of the most efficient intelligent energy management devices, solar cells and energy storage systems, with which this aircraft will fly smoothly and without any form of traditional fuel.

Flying nonstop around the world will take place in 2010 and not 2006 as it was said when the project was announced in 2003. In an update of the project that has just been made public, it is confirmed that the prototype will be piloted by three people: Bertrand Piccard, President and initiator of the project, Brian Jones, program development, and André Borschberg executive director of the project.
The conceptual design of the aircraft is already underway and the prototype was built in 2007. During 2008 the first test flights took place which included night flights, and in 2009 will take place the first flights with several days of duration. Finally, in 2010 the Solar Impulse will circumnavigate the globe nonstop. It will be a journey divided into five phases, each lasting three to five days. The first solar powered plane will fly from the west to the east, at between 10 to 30 degrees north of the Equator, to make best use of air currents and the sun energy.

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Solar Energy on Transport

Many solar powered prototypes have been developed to compete in the World Solar Challenge (WSC), which is an international competition for solar cars being measured in a large path (3000km).
The average cost of this type of vehicles is $ 100,000.

International Experiences with solar cars

The development of solar powered cars in the world is driven by a concern to obtain new technologies to reduce manufacturing costs, and appropriate models for applications that require it. Different competitions are developed in the world, the most important being the World Solar Challenge (WSC) and the Sun Race. They involve various organizations linked to the development of photovoltaic technologies.

The competitions allow measuring every year the technology and designs of various research centers and universities in countries such as Holland, USA, Japan, Iran, Australia, Germany, France, among others.

World Solar Challenge

World Solar Challenge (WSC) race is a competition that encourages research and development of solar energy to solve future transport needs. Participants work with the motivation to win the race, but also get motivated knowing they are contributing to a vital search for alternative means of transport for future generations. These vehicles travel at incredible speeds between Darwin and Adelaide only with the sun’s energy and human ingenuity to give people a new appreciation of the future use of solar energy. This race was created in 1987 by Hans Tholstrup, a Danish adventurer, who holds several records in the world of motor and aviation.

The WSC is a boost to energy conservation and is a technological development vehicle of the future. It is no coincidence that car manufacturers in the forefront of the development of electric vehicles have previously competed and sometimes won the WSC.

The name of the World Solar Challenge is correctly used. More than a race is a challenge, a challenge for engineers and scientists in the world to build a vehicle that is light and efficient, but strong enough to cross the continent. It is a challenge to develop a solar panel capable of generating a large amount of electric power, and then design a vehicle for making a more effective use of that energy. But above all, is a challenge to build a vehicle that is fast (as fast as permitted by the rules of the road) moved only by the solar power.

The spirit of the concept car was not only driven that by solar energy would become a practical solution for the future transport needs, but that the idea of crossing a continent with the energy of sunlight is only a great fascination. This results in a motivation on those who are competing with their cars and turn on the imagination of the media and public following the event.

The solar car race produces theoretical innovations as teams search for greater energy efficiency. With the allowable area of solar panels and the best solar cells, less than 2 kilowatts of power are available to move a vehicle weighing 300 kg at a speed of 90 km / h.

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Spain is one of the most attractive countries for the development of solar energy, as is the European country with the greatest amount of sunshine. The Spanish government has committed to produce 12% of renewable energy by 2010, and to install 400 megawatts (MW) of power using solar power. Spain is the fourth country in the world in solar energy technologies exporting 80% of it to Germany.

Through a ministerial decision in March 2004, the Spanish government removed economic barriers to the connection of renewable energy to the electricity grid. Royal Decree 436/2004 equalizes the conditions for large-scale production of solar, thermal and photovoltaic energy and guarantees feed-in sale tariffs.
On June 1st, 2007 came into force the Royal Decree 661/2007 of May 25th, which regulates the production of electrical energy as a special regime, which maintains a system similar to those established by Royal Decree 436 / 2004, March 12th, in which the operator can choose to sell its energy under a regulated rate, unique for all programming periods, or sell the energy directly in the daily market or through a bilateral contract receiving in this case the agreed price plus a premium. In the latter case, some new technologies were introduced, lower and upper limits for the amount of hours of daily market price plus a premium of reference, so that the premium paid on an hourly basis, may be limited depending of these values. The new system protects the developer when the revenue from the market price is too low, and eliminates the premium when the market price is high enough to ensure coverage of their costs by eliminating irrationalities in the retribution of technologies, whose costs are not directly linked to oil prices in the international markets

Spain is one of the countries along with Germany, Italy, UK, Netherlands and Sweden that could meet the long term, between 10 and 60 percent of its electricity demand, through the introduction of solar photovoltaic panels, according to estimates made today by the European Commission at the conference on renewable energy held in the Swedish city of Uppsala. The president of the commission proposed to expand the research “to use the sun and the earth as energy sources,” and introduced the draft H-Alpha Solar and PROCIS. In the first case, researchers from France, Portugal and the Netherlands have opted for this new technology from the manufacturing of silicon solar energy equipment, with a good result both in cost and in efficiency.

The EU executive said that due to rising oil prices, environmental challenges and changing of the law there is an “urgent” need to develop alternatives to replace fossil fuels with renewable options. Also stated that the biomass, agricultural waste and organic debris are the only renewable energy sources can supply large-scale, liquid fuel for transportation and this in an industry that uses 97 percent oil, most of which is imported.

“We should do the impossible to develop new and renewable sources of energy to reduce our dependence on foreign sources, protecting our environment,” said European Commissioner for Development Louis Michel. “We must find solutions to convert the recent research results into profitable and appropriate alternatives for everyday use.”

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The Spanish telecommunications engineers are leading the development of solar energy in the world and its collegiate organs have made it apparent by granting the title of “Telecommunications Engineer of the Year” to Antonio Luque, who has 13 patents in the energy, half of them in operation.

The president of the Association of Telecommunications Engineers, Enrique Gutierrez Bueno, awarding the distinction, emphasized the role of this telecommunications engineer and professor of physical electronics, in the development of solar energy technology in the world, the invention of the bifacial solar cell that led to the foundation of the company Isofoton. This company is now the second largest producer of solar cells in Europe and eighth in the world, which exports 80 percent.

Luque is the founder of the Solar Energy Institute of the Polytechnic University of Madrid, which promotes development projects in this sector.

Antonio Luque said that solar energy and telecommunications are linked from the initial investigation and affirmed that no one can believe that “this energy is just an ecologist’s thing but it is the future “and will have a key role as a source of electricity by the middle of the century. Luque said that photovoltaic energy is growing at annual rates of 33.4 percent and that the biggest problem we have at present is the shortage of purified silicon for solar cells.

He explained that half of the silicon is already used on these cells and the Institute for Solar Energy is promoting in Getafe the creation of a technology company to purify the silicon, targeting the sale of plants to purify the material around the world to break the existing oligopoly and get prices down.

Professor Luque defended the importance of Spain in the world of solar energy because it is the fourth manufacturer in the world and regretted the county pessimistic attitude towards the research being done.

He recalled that in 2002 his team presented a project for the European Union to detect which will be the photovoltaic technologies of the future which was adopted and is being developed in 19 European centers. He also emphasized the importance of the project to industrialize the new solar cells in Castilla La Mancha under the support of the government which will be of great importance in the future. Luque said that despite the prominence that the telecommunications engineers have in this sector, some have had trouble endorsing solar energy projects for which he defended the need to assert its role as the solar energy is an issue of telecommunications.

Mobile powered by solar energy

China developed the first mobile phone that works with solar energy

According to an article published in news.xinhuanet.com, a Chinese company claims to have developed a mobile phone that is charged with solar energy and provides 40 minutes of talk time after exposure to the sun for an hour. Hi-Tech Wealth, a well-known provider of telecommunications products in China, said that his mobile phone is the first in the world to recharge its battery with solar energy. According to company sources, the phone has a kind of solar panel located at the top of the casing that can be loaded with light from other sources besides the sun.

Many companies worldwide are working on developing similar mobile phones but their products are still in an experimental phase. Zhang Zhengyu, chairman of Hi-Tech Wealth, said the company began to investigate the use of light as an energy source in 2000 and has invested hundreds of millions of yen in the project.

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.