Have you thought about using a DIY home solar project?  DIY stands for Do It Yourself and many are finding that it’s much easier to make their own solar panels than to find ways to afford a new solar panel system.  These projects are actually a lot of fun and very easy.  I found that the whole family loved to get involved in the project and in no time we were on our way to green energy and energy independence with the system we had built.

What tools will you need in the DIY home solar project?e

You will want to make a visit to your local hardware store to pick up a few essentials, like a piece of plywood ( to use as your solar panel backing), some solder, a soldering gun if you don’t already have one, and some basic tools.  If you don’t already have some extra car batteries lying around you will want to get some of these as well so they can store the energy that your homemade solar project is going to create.  Also some electrical wire would be good to have on hand as well.

When it comes to solar cells you will probably want to buy them used on ebay.  You can get them much cheaper if they are used and you can make them work just as well with your soldering gun.  In fact, even buying broken solar cells can be beneficial as they can easily be fixed following the instructions below and you will have a solar panel that is running like a top in no time.

So how easy are these projects?  Well you don’t have to know anything about how solar power works  or even about electricity to get setup with one of these systems.  But what you do need is a good set of instructions or it can be very confusing.  It’s amazing how having just the right guide can make all the difference.

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.

Have you been wondering how to install home solar grids to tie into your current electrical system?  First of all let me say that if you do not know what you are doing you want to be very careful with your solar power system and connecting it to your grid.  It is best to have a trained electrician or professional in this are to help you connect the system together before you get hurt.

More people have been tieing their solar and wind powered units to the grid so they can get paid from the power company for making power instead of using it.  You will want to check with your power company first because not all of them offer this pay back program.  The process of getting paid from your electrical company for making more power than you are using is called net-metering.  There is a growing trend of people net-metering their houses so that they can stop paying these huge power bills and actually start making money from the power company.  Some houses can generate enough electricity to make tieing into the grid like a part time job.

You will find some great detailed instructions at the link below for figuring out the best method to tie into your electrical grid.  I recommend following these plans because you do not want to mess this up.  It will take some time and effort so have fun and enjoy using the suns power.

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.

Maybe you have seen those home solar kits online and have wondered if they are a good option for you.  These solar powered kits come with everything you need to get started using solar power in your home, but they are on a very small scale.  They are great for beginners that just want to see how solar power works and how practical it can be to use in their home, without spending a lot of money on this project.

These kits vary in what they include, but often they will include a small solar panel, a battery to store the energy, sometimes they can come with a power inverter and perhaps an outlet.  Solar power converts electricity into DC current but your home uses AC and so you have to use that power inverter to make the power usable.

Many RV’s use the home solar kits as well, as they make it easy and portable to carry this power producing device around.  RV’s constanty rely on external energy to power them, except for the energy produced by the engine, but in times of high gas prices you will want to use the solar kit at every chance you get.

In some of these kits you are given a bunch of solar cells and you can put them together yourself and create a solar panel.  You can put as many solar cells together as you want to make the panel even more powerful and able to create more electricity.

You will want to make sure that these solar kits have detailed instructions on how to solder the cells together properly or you will really have a mess on your hands.  Before you make your purchase for a solar powered kit I recommend checking out the solar guide that is talked about below in the signature.

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.

Solar power for the home is all the rage in today’s world and many people are wondering how they can use the power of the sun in their homes without spending a fortune. As you may know, solar power is great but it is definitely not cheap. That is why it is best to use passive solar power and active solar power together. What’s the difference? Passive solar power is used by a more primitive means and usually without electrical components such as a conventional solar panel used in active solar energy.

If you want to use nothing but the suns power to give your home some energy independence and get off grid and stop paying the power company so much money every month, you will want to listen up. First you need to consider how much energy you are currently using. This will help determine how many solar panels you will need for your every day energy needs.

Instead of buying brand new solar panels, you can look at the end of this article for a set of instructions on how to build a solar panel yourself and save a lot more money than you may think. You can spend thousands of dollars on buying them brand new, but only hundreds on making them yourself. So in my mind it is a no brainer really.

Then you will want to consider using some passive solar options.  This may take a change in your lifestyle but you can start cooking with a solar oven, you can make a solar hot water heater for very little money, and you can also start heating the air in your home with passive solar power as well.  All of these options will not take any electrical components at all, so it will not drain an ounce of energy from your battery store house which holds the power from your solar panels or wind powered turbine.

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.

While there are many ways to make active solar power and integrate it into your home, you should always use passive solar power techniques as well.   Passive solar power for your home will involve using the sun’s power and light  without a mechanical system as an electrical solar panel.  These passive systems can turn that hot sunlight into an energy that can be used to heat up some water or a thermal object, and can also cause hot currents of air to circulate using very few components.

I was recently in a home that uses passive solar power to heat the entire house.  The side of the house that gets the most sunlight throughout the winter months is full of glass windows and acts like a green house when the sun hits them.  But the house was built in such a way that the sun will automatically heat up the air and start the ventilation process of circulating the warm air through the entire house.  In the summer time the blinds had to be closed on the windows because that front porch could heat up to 130 degrees in no time.  That’s the power of the sun, so it just makes sense to use this energy for our energy needs.

An example of active solar power would be a solar panel which turns that sunlight into electricity and then sends that power to a set of batteries for later consumption to power household items in the home.  I recommend using both passive and active solar power to use the suns power to its fullest, but many do not realize the potential of passive solar energy.

There are plans for passive solar heating all over the place and they include devices such as hot water heaters, solar ovens or cookers (which are great for camping), space heating, solar chimneys, and many other items.

By using mirrors to concentrate to sunlight into one specific area you can maximize the potential energy of passive solar power.  The uses of these systems is not as wide spread but it is starting to catch on in more remote places where energy is needed but not just for electrical needs.  The more that passive solar power is used for things like cooking and heating, the less you will need to use the active solar panels to power those needs in the home and the more power you will have for other things.

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.

There are all kinds of do it yourself solar power programs out there that promise to show you how to make your own solar panels.  But you really need to be careful which ones you buy into, because as I have experience, some of them are a complete waste of time.

But the question remains… can you really create solar power yourself without buying a brand new solar power system that will cost thousands of dollars?  In short the answer is yes.

What tools do you need?  Often you will only need a few supplies you can get at your local hardware store and perhaps a visit to ebay.  It really depends how much of your solar power system you want to make from scratch.

People all over the nation are beginning to build their own solar panels at home and it is very exciting.  I am delighted that many have taken my advice and have begun their own homemade solar power systems.

Like I said earlier, there are a few scam programs out there that make promises of renewable energy at home.  But I am making this post so you will know of the one really great “Do It Yourself” solar ebook and video course that I recommend.

It is called GreenDIYEnergy and you can check it out by clicking the link.  They offer 2 hours of instructional videos showing you everything you need to know about how to make your own solar panels and wind turbines with easy to find parts.  Once you join they also offer some of the best membership support I have ever seen.

This is the only set of solar instructions that you will ever need.  There are also instructions on making your own hot water with solar power and other cost saving ideas you can use in your home.

I don’t know about you but I am sick of paying too much for everything and the less I have to spend on energy the better.

Check out this Solar Panel and Wind Power Guide Here!

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.

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.

Solar thermal energy: In the year 1861, the math teacher Augustin Mouchet has patented the first machine capable of generating electricity using sunlight.

Mouchot introduced water in a bucket of iron surrounded by a layer of glass. Solar energy captured between the glass and the bucket warmed the water to evaporation. With this vapor a small steam engine was triggered. Mouchot perfected his machine by having the mirrors, in the form of bowls, in the bucket of iron, in order to concentrate the sun’s rays to increase the amount of steam. Then he mounted the mirrors on two axes in order to follow the sun, thus becoming the first solar tracking device which further increased the heat between the glass and the iron bucket. (Today, mirrors of this type are still used in some facilities in California, USA). However, the electricity generated by the Mouchot’s machine was so minimal, it continued with the procurement of electricity through cheap coal.

With the years the US born engineer Frank Shuman built in Egypt the first installation of solar energy. At 25 kilometers from Cairo installed five enormous mirrors. All the arts had a length of 60 meters. With this standing solar energy radiation water reached at the focal mirrors almost the boiling point. The steam produced this way served to drive the low pressure steam engines of which in turn pumped the water from the Nile to the farmers’ fields.
This Frank Shuman’s installation of solar energy was the predecessor of the current solar installations in California, which only differ from the first because they generate electricity directly. These facilities were destroyed in Egypt during the First World War and after the war were not rebuilt. Interest in solar energy was declining due to low oil prices and that did not change until the arrival of the big oil crisis. Then we returned to invest in solar systems that still used to today.

Photovoltaic solar energy: As early as 1839, the French physicist Alexandre Edmond Becquerel discovered that there was an electric flow between two electrodes bathed in an acid when subjected one of them to a light source. In 1873, the British engineer Willoughby Smith discovered that chemical selenium showed a change in its electrical resistance when subjected to a light source. With the solar cell based on selenium however there was only energy-efficient conversion of 1%.

80 years later, Bell Telephone Company Labor employees found that silicon cells had ana energy efficiency five times greater than the cells of selenium. These new cells were used primarily on a telephone relay station. However, due to high costs investing in such cells has stopped.

Thanks to the aerospace activities the silicon cell is not entirely disappeared from the earth because it meant the most effective and easy source of energy in space where the sun never goes away. The first satellite with silicon solar cells was put into orbit in 1958. With the second big oil crisis, photovoltaic energy finally started its road to victory, just as had happened to thermal energy before. In the mid-eighties, the world’s photovoltaic power increased to 25 megawatts and two years ago 125 Megawatts were produce globally.

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.

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 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.

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.