Monday, 1 June 2009

Solar Energy And Going Off The Grid

By Christina Starkits

In North America we spend a ridiculous amount of our incomes on electricity. The effort that it takes to transfer energy from the power plants to our homes is a waste of our hard earned money, money that can be spent on things to better your way of living. There are so many hidden costs that the average consumer doesn't even know about but with a little information you can keep your money in your wallet where it belongs. Why throw money away and have someone else generate your power for you when you can easily do it yourself at a fraction of the price.

First, when it comes to saving energy, start with the big ticket items. For most households, the biggest draw on their electric bill comes from the refrigerator and air conditioner, followed by the water heater. All of these can be upgraded to save electricity, with energy star certified appliances. Air conditioners can be replaced with evaporative coolers in a lot of places, and there are plenty of good do it yourself kits for making solar water heaters.

However, learning how to save electricity is only part of the process. Generating your own solar power is the next part of the process. Solar cells are becoming more and more efficient, and less expensive. What used to be a ten thousand dollar investment can now be had for a few hundred dollars, and you may even qualify for a tax credit for doing it.

People are now becoming more and more aware of the idea of solar energy and the possiblity of it being used for your home. The photoelectric effect is what solar energy relys on for generating its power. This is a phenomenon in which electrons are emitted from matter after the absorption of energy from visible sun light. This all may sound a little intimidating but is actually quite fascinating and with some help along the way can be easiely achieved by the average indvidual.

What this array will do is grab solar light and convert it to electricity, storing it for later use. Making dual purpose systems that are also solar thermal water heaters combines both solar energy and saving electricity, often in one installation. All that said, this is a scalable system. Start out small and build up the capacity as you get time, and buy the components. Most of the components are fairly inexpensive at this point.

Solar systems are not cheap but having said that they are also not as costly as people tend to think. The electrical bill for most American and Canadians is one of the top three bills that weigh heavily on our wallets. Why not invest in something that can eliminate those bills all together or at least significantly reduce the costs? Getting your own solar power system does not have to be done all in one day, you can always do it step by step until you have achieved your desired reduction in costs and this reduction can be seen in as little as a year!

Obviously in this article we are just hitting the basic points of solar energy. The benefits are countless and this is just a quick overview of how easily you can be profiting from creating your own resource for energy rather than the electrical companys profits from you! Furthermore, you are getting mental satisfaction of knowing your doing something great for our planet and your children will thank you for it!

About the Author:

No comments:

Post a Comment