Mindzle

I live in the desert Southwestern areas of the United States, and solar power is something I’ve been heavily interested in for years. Since this area of the country tends to have 300+ days of sunshine each and every year, it makes sense for me to take advantage of that in my home.

Putting in a full solar powered home energy system can be expensive though, particularly if you have a large family. I don’t know why I thought I had to do it all at once though. It’s pretty simple to take smaller steps forward, and you can really see the difference in bills from the start.

I can’t stomach the thought of spending two to three hundred dollars or more each and every month for the entire rest of my life. So the first step I decided to take was reducing consumption.

– I replaced every lightbulb I could with the energy efficient “pigtail” bulbs. I was honestly amazed that doing this knocked the overall electric bill down quite a bit.

– I sealed up various cracks and drafy spots around the house. We live in an old rental house that hasn’t been cared for over the years, so drafts in the summer and winter are horrible. Blocking the drafts made a huge difference in keeping the house at more comfortable temperatures throughout the year.

– I started using more of the sun’s natural solar energy. I open my curtains in the winter so the sun can help heat my home. I also place water jugs in the sun so they can store heat during the day. At night, these are excellent heat source supplements to our small space heater.

I’ve also been trying out various forms of natural convection heating, solar power heating, and I’ve been learning how to create my own solar panels too.

Solar panel prices can vary quite a bit, but they’re cheaper if you’re willing to install them yourself. I’ve found ready made residential solar panels for as low as $700. I was surprised to learn you can make your own solar panels pretty easily, usually for less than $200, but I’m not sure if I’ll try that yet myself or not. And since you can install the solar system a little at a time, those low costs make it so much easier to get started.

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