There are two reasons to use home solar power. One is to save money and the other is to lower your carbon footprint on our planet. Generating your own electricity involves a large outlay of money at first, but your are rewarded with no power bill.
Solar cells have been available for many years and are a way of producing electricity on site. Many persons that use solar energy may have no other source of electricity, while others are still connected to the normal power supply, but use their solar power to reduce the cost that they spend on electricity. Still others use solar electricity with some other form of power that is produced on site. They may choose to use a generator that is powered by fossil fuels or a wind turbine to produce supplemental energy as needed.
In order to be totally dependent on the solar cells, you must have a way of storing excess energy that is produced when you are not using it. Most solar energy systems have a bank of batteries that has been set up to store this excess energy. Use of the battery system allows for lights and appliances to be ran during the nights when the sun does not shine. They can also provide limited power on overcast days to supplement what is being produced.
There are times that you will need a different source to take care of needs that are normally taken care of by electricity from the public supply. Two specific areas are in heating and cooling the home. Most home solar panels are not large enough to operate these units. You may need to consider an alternate source of power or for providing for these needs.
One way that is often used by those who live far from the grid to heat the home is by the use of wood heat. There are certain species of trees that can be planted for a woodlot that will reproduce themselves from the root stock and provide enough wood to keep the home heated through the winter.
During the summer, cooling may be a problem, especially in areas where the humidity is high. One suggestion is to use cool air from the basement and fans to cool the home. Another uses an underground cooling tube that is connected to fans and duct work in the home for cooling.
Within the past few years, solar air conditioning and heat pumps have been introduced. While these units are somewhat expensive, prices will likely drop as they grow in production and in use. Development of these units is going to be a key to growing the use of home solar power.
More information on off grid solar power can be found at www.livingoffthegridnow.com. Where you will also learn about wind turbines for the home.
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