Solar Power Home Kits- Do It Yourself
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Solar Power Home Kits
If you are the do-it-yourself type, solar power home kits might be your cup of tea. Much of what you need to know about installation is given in the documentation that comes with the system. If you have the capabilities to do all the work yourself, there should be a savings of 20% or more on your overall energy package.
Ok, How Much to Implement?
It’s not cheap to install solar energy. One line of thought on the way to attain solar power is by incrementally adding components. There is no law that says we have to make the transition to solar in one fell swoop. We can easily install the core components and add others later.
This makes sense because of the type of energy produced by the sun. With direct current, it is possible to expand a system by simply attaching more panels over time. Each addition presents more usable power entering the home at the meter. Savings on the utility bill won’t be that much if the system only has a couple of panels, but it is a start.
If you want to bite the bullet and get a system large enough to make a real difference in what you pay the electric company, you will need to do some calculations to determine what you need. A contractor would need to perform these steps prior to giving you an estimate.
Can I Sell Some Electricity Back to My Electric Company?
Does your utility provider offer a grid-tie system allowing you to sell excess power back to them? This is important to note prior to your design. If you don’t have an agreement with your provider, it is necessary to have a battery backup system to get the full advantage of your sun energy.
If there is no utility provider, it is highly recommended to add a fuel powered backup generator to the system. This will add several thousands of dollars to the bottom line, but it is almost a necessity. The sun does not always shine and the backup batteries can only hold so much reserve. If rain sets in for four or five days, you will be out of power without the generator.
Find the number of hours of sunshine that you receive on a yearly average. You can do this by checking out solar isolation maps. Be sure to get your information from a legitimate source, as there are discrepancies from one map to another. These maps are based on the averages over several years and will not be completely accurate.
Your home will receive fewer hours of sunlight in the winter than the summer. This leaves you with a system that will produce more than you need during the warmer months if you design it to produce enough for the colder ones.
Energy Consumption
The next input you need is how much energy you consume each month. If you have a utility provider, they keep records of usage so you can request the information for the last two to three years. If you know the most kilowatts you have used in a month and the number of hours of sunshine you average per day, you have what you need to price out your system.
It’s important to know what power the sun will typically generate in your area before purchasing solar power home kits.
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Tagged with: Backup Batteries • Backup Generator • Battery Backup System • Bottom Line • Core Components • Cup Of Tea • Electricity • Energy Package • Excess Power • Grid Tie • Line Of Thought • Rain Sets • Solar Energy • Solar Power Home • Sun Energy • Swoop • Thousands Of Dollars • Tie System • Usable Power • Utility Provider
Filed under: Solar Power Home Kits
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I’ve done lots of reading about installing solar panels. It seems that no matter how much you look you can’t get a system cheap enough for the savings to pay off the cost of buying the system. Now is the time to start looking though, since in the next few years the cost of other sources of power will go up and that will change. I’m planning on moving my home to solar in stages but not by feeding the grid. Instead I’m going to try to install enough panels to power only non essential circuits. Accent lighting, Fans, Small kitchen appliances and other electronic devices go first. Then I’ll slowly add panels until everything is converted.
I totally think that is the way to go. Converting an existing home completely in one shot could really be a shot in the pocketbook. However doing is slowly can make use of things such as used panels and spread the investment over time. I think that you would have to stay in a house 20 or so years before getting your money back if you convert all at once.
Another advantage to doing it in stages is that it doesn’t all have to be electric solar panels. There are solar systems that never turn the solar power into elecricity that have a much shorter payoff. Alot of potential energy is lost as heat and reflected light in the solar array. Using the sun to heat your water or evaporation to cool your house is actually more efficient than using a solar powered cell to operate an electronic heater or cooler.