Obviously a solar power system can save you a tremendous amount of money. What was once mainly a fad of the treehugger crowd, has taken off in a big way. Finally, it appears, the mainstream has come to realize that our planet is being stressed terribly, and the once seemingly endless supply of fossil fuel is not such a sure thing for the long term, even if we could afford it financially.

Solar energy will eventually pay for itself, and will then begin to be a source of income, at least by the money saved on your utility bill. Unfortunately, the initial cost of a solar system can be cost prohibitive to many, often requiring financing in order to become a reality.

Of course the cost of your solar system will depend on your power requirements. The cost will also be a factor on what you are trying to accomplish with your solar installation. Some want to totally eliminate their electric bill, while others are simply wanting to subsidize their energy bill.

A solar kit can cost anywhere from $8,000 to $20,000 and beyond, but there are so many variables, it’s hard to give an exact figure without looking at the specific site and knowing the amount of electrical power that will be needed for the installation.

If you’re able to do the installation yourself, and shop with savings in mind, the costs can be reduced dramatically. By getting a DIY kit, a solar system that may have been financially out of reach, can be had.

With the tax incentives available on the federal and state level, there’s even more of a reason to install a solar system. These tax breaks also apply to other energy saving home improvements, including a solar water heater, wind turbine, and other energy saving additions.

If you decide that you can afford a solar system, the main thing to remember is to plan, plan and plan. By knowing the exact needed components that will supply the power that you need, you can begin to price the individual pieces, obtaining exactly what you need for the best possible price.

Instead of going deeply in debt for your residential solar system, it’s often better to start with a basic system that can be added to later. By installing just a basic solar system, the savings realized can be substantial, without having a monthly loan payment to fret over.

Obviously, we all know that solar power is energy from the sun. Go outside on a warm, sunny day and you can feel this solar energy in the form of heat on your skin. That same solar power from that giant star in our solar system that provides heat and light for the Earth, can also supply electrical power needed for our homes. What goes on when we decide to use that solar power to power devices in our homes ?

The Basics of Using Solar Power

The sun bombards the Earth with it’s solar radiation in the form of UVA and UVB light rays. Much of that energy is reflected back into space, but there is plenty of those solar rays and resulting energy, that is available to be used to power our homes and businesses.

Unfortunately, at this stage of development we’re probably far behind in where we should be in using this fantastic, clean, renewable source of the best source of energy available. One of the reasons is that technology probably hasn’t progressed at a sufficient rate to utilize this solar power efficiently enough, and in the amounts needed. Also the commitment probably wasn’t made early enough to be where we should be. Many people believe we could be totally, or at least nearly so, free of our dependence on all foreign oil.

Utilizing this Solar Energy with Solar Panels

You’ve seen solar panels in different installations, whether it be on the roofs of homes or businesses, or maybe mounted on poles in the yards of homes. There’s even solar shingles available now for those that live in building restrictive communities, or for those that just don’t care for the look of the solar panels on their homes. Not only are these and other technologies advancing the solar industry, the costs are coming down, and the efficiency of solar panels is going up.

These solar panels are comprised of individual photovoltaic (PV) cells. These cells are usually constructed from silicon or other types of semi-conductive materials. These PV cells are arranged uniformly, with positive and negative terminals to connect electrically. The total solar panel power output is cumulative of what each cell produces. The final solar panel output is substantial, and when combined with more panels in an array, the power produced can be enough, depending on the total size of the solar array, to power your entire home.

The solar panels are usually (ideally) installed on a southern exposer of a roof or lawn, thus gathering an increased amount of the available rays from the sun. When the sun’s light rays contacts the panels, it is absorbed by the solar cells.

The solar (light) energy from the sun enters the PV cells, and thanks to the laws of physics, electrons are freed from their orbit surrounding their respective atom. The free electrons then form an electrical current. The current from each PV cell is combined as the final output current available from that solar panel to be used for the solar power system. The current from each panel in the array is then combined to produce the total output available for our solar power system.

The current produced from the solar panels is direct current (DC). Unfortunately, we need alternating current (AC) for our homes. Even though nearly everything in our homes does, eventually, operate on direct current, AC is used for technical and costs reasons when delivering the power to the home system.

The rest of the solar system takes over after receiving the DC output from the PV (photovoltaic) array (solar panels), usually going through a DC disconnect/charge controller first. This device /devices interrupts the electrical current flow from the array and can utilize the current to charge (DC) batteries to store the electrical power. If batteries are used, they are normally in a bank of at least several, and must be of the proper type (discussed below).

If the electricity is to be used directly as output from the solar array (DC), it must then be passed through an inverter which converts the DC into AC. This is a very simplified example of am actual home solar system, and a working system requires additional components. A very basic system can be nothing more than some solar panels, a charge controller and battery bank. Of course an iverter would be needed unless the power is to be used directly as direct current (DC).

When storing the electrical energy for later use, the charge controller regulates the voltage applied to, and the charging of the battery bank. The batteries used in a solar power system should be of the type designed specifically for these applications. They are deep cycle batteries and built to last for many years. The type of battery from your automobile is not acceptable for use in your home solar power system. The selection of the batteries used in your home solar power system is of the utmost importance and trying to save a few dollars isn’t worth building a substandard system. You will pay the price, one way or another.

The financial benefits of a residential solar power system offers the homeowner an excellent way to save a huge amount on their utility bill, but also has the added benefit of being a green, renewable source of energy that will preserve this amazing planet for many generations to come.

(Editor’s Note:) Although a commercially installed residential solar system is quite expensive, many people are opting to build their own individual solar panels, one at a time to build their own total system as the funds permit. For a fraction of a commercially available package, the homeowner can realize a comparable system, and have the reward of knowing they saved thousands (or tens of thousands of dollars), and did it themselves.

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