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The Benefits of Solar Power Explained in the Domestic Environment
Many of us are hearing more about the use of solar power, and the advantages of it, over other forms of energy.
I will summarize some of the benefits that can be gained from using solar power, as well as some methods to go about installing it.
Solar power is a form of renewable energy which is in direct contrast to many existing technologies, that rely on fossil fuels to provide the energy source. In the case of electricity, most countries relying on fossil fuels will be using either coal, or nuclear material.
In the case of coal usage, its a limited resource, which is becoming more and more expensive to obtain, thus having increased costs passed onto you, the end consumer. In addition to this, the waste from the burning of these fuels is affecting our environment, in the form of greater pollution, affects on the earth from excessive mining, and also in some areas, our health is being affected, particularly people sensitive to airborne contaminants.
Taking this point a little further, whilst some people may argue that nuclear power is the answer, in that it is a cleaner fuel to use, you may find you receive opposition to that argument from people in Russia, and Europe, who were affected by the Chernobyl disaster, when they had a nuclear reactor leak.
Hence, the problem with nuclear fuels is the management and storage of the waste, which can be radioactive for hundreds of years onward.
Thus, it is my view that solar energy ios the solution that many of us can benefit from, and need to adopt.
Solar power is obtained from the sun’s light, and is collected via photovoltaic cells on collection panels, that then transfer this voltage, or electricity to a storage system, like batteries, to be converted to electricity.
Some systems dispense with the storage part, and directly convert the sun’s energy to electricity. Either way, you end up with a much cleaner system, that does not burn fuel and that is also renewable.
The sun is going to remain alive for a long time to come, and amongst other benefits, our power source costs are much cheaper. In fact, once the cost of the parts to manufacture the system is removed, the rest is totally self sufficient, and free to run.
Solar systems for converting our homes to solar power are available commercially at great cost, but many do not realise that these systems can be built in kit form, and self assembled, to provide some replacement electricity in our homes.
Taken to the next level, some homes can be fully solar powered, provided enough solar cells are built, and you have the physical space on your roof, or on the grounds to place the collection panels.
Why Solar Energy?
Since the beginning of time, earth has been fueled by light and heat from the sun, and life has leveraged these resources to prosper. There is approximately 3850 Zettajoules (ZJ) per year of solar energy that the sun produces and is available to earth. This energy travels to earth by way of electromagnetic radiation, which is similar to radio waves, but resides in a different frequency range.
Green Power eBooks Reviews
Simply put, there are literally hundreds of products out there that teach you how to switch a home to solar or wind generated energy. When you look at these products though, only a few of them are worth anything. Converting a home using professionals is an expensive proposition. To compensate many are turning to do-it-yourself books and making the move to go green on their own. With the wide range of information available, let’s first discuss what a go-green learning package is and is not.
First, a program that teaches you to convert your home is NOT the only thing you need. To make the actual conversion you’ll still need to follow the guide to building solar panels or windmills or both.
Second, NOT every home is appropriate for green conversion. If you live in an condo for example you don’t have the surface area for solar panels, or the land needed to setup a windmill.
Third, a package that teaches you how to convert your home IS an excellent way to reduce and even get rid of that monthly power bill. In fact, if you do it right you’ll likely generate more energy than you use, and the power company will have to pay you for the power you feed back into the grid. Best of all, if you choose the right methods to convert your home it can be done for very little cost to you.
Fourth, if you don’t take the time to choose the right learning tools then you’re just wasting your money. You even run the risk of creating problems for yourself when your real estate value dropsdue to the non-working solar panels that are covering the roof. Choosing the right tool to learn with is the most important step!
To help you choose a green power package that works, along with some friends, I have worked to evaluate the top one learning product on the market today. We based my evaluations on the following criteria.
- Green Power – Obviously our main goal from any power generation project is to generate power. We tested how much power each solar panel and windmill could actually generate.
- Ease of Building – With a package that teaches how to convert a home, the material should be clearly laid out, and the components should be simple to build.
- Instructional Value – From the above criteria we gave higher ratings to those learning packages that taught us how to go green with ease. The best packages had everything clearly explained, drawn blueprints, and then further explained with how-to videos.
- Cost Involved – The main reason people choose to convert their home themselves is to save money. We gave much higher ratings to the packages that taught us how to find parts for less.
- Availability of Parts – Some of the learning packages we tested recommended parts that weren’t available. We gave higher marks to those that used parts that were available to anyone (such as at your local hardware store)
- Time Involved – How long did it take to build each component. We found this had a lot to do with how well the material was explained, but some of the plans just weren’t simple enough.
- Overall Rating – From the above factors we gave each package an overall rating.
To follow you will find our ratings for the top product that can teach you how to go green.
I have many friends who have been bugging me to help them go green. Over a two month period of time (working on the weekends), that’s exactly what I did. They paid for the parts and put in most of the work, I paid for the learning materials and helped them along the way.
#1 Rated Alternative Energy Site for 2013 The clear winner from our evaluations was Green Power Easy. This learning package was developed by Peter and Jennifer Lowe, and it is the most well put together green package that we tested.
When you buy Green Power Easy you will immediately be able to download the packaged. Included is the manual, blueprints, and how-to videos that make learning this one simple.
The focus of this package is on converting your home to either wind or solar power or both. Most importantly it focuses on how to accomplish this for very little cost. All of the parts that Green Power Easy recommends will be available locally (they were for us), and most of the pieces we needed came from our hardware store.
You’ll also get recommendations on how to get deep-cycle batteries for free. Generating power is one thing, but storing it is also important. With free batteries, lower cost of parts, and the learning material, we were able to do an entire home conversion without a huge outlay of cash.
This package laid out everything for us from how to build a single solar panel to how to create a grid of batteries to store that power. With the addition of the Green Power Easy TV videos that is included, this package offers outstanding value, and makes converting your home simple.
Best of all, when we finished the conversion, the power generated by the system was enough that we were feeding power back to the power company, even during peak usage times.