Mindzle

Posts Tagged ‘solar power generation’

One of the first things homeowners need to consider when deciding whether to install a solar power system for the home is just how many solar panels they need Even a small number of panels will make a big difference when it comes to your monthly electricity bills. Those who would like to forget about their electricity bills completely, though, will want to be precise in terms of how many solar panels they install.

First, you’ll need to determine how much electricity you use in your home per day on average. This can be done by referring to your monthly electricity bills from the recent past. (In some cases, you can find these records online if necessary.) Look at the monthly kilowatt-hour (kWh) electricity use line items, and find the typical monthly total. Your average daily usage can then be determined by dividing this figure by 30.

Another factor to consider is insolation. Insolation is a measurement of the quantity of sunlight which makes contact with a given surface area over time. Solar panels only produce electricity when they come in direct contact with sunlight. Different solar panels have different requirements in terms of sunlight intensity in order to generate power. The intensity and angle at which solar panels are exposed to sunlight on a given surface will vary throughout the year. Even throughout a single day, the amount of sunlight present at any given time can differ. The average exposure for a given location is reflected by its insolation value. Maps displaying insolation values can be found online. Then, divide the daily kWh of electricity from the first step by the insolation value to get the power capacity you’ll need from your system.

The last factor you’ll need to take into consideration is the amount of loss from your solar power system. Although the most recent systems are much more efficient than earlier ones, with any power system, there is always a certain amount of power lost in conversion. This can be difficult to measure accurately, but it’s generally safe to use the figure of 25%, so if you multiply the figure from the previous step (kWh/insolation) by 1.25, you’ll get the amount of power (including loss) that you need. Now you can see how many kWh of energy you need, adjusted for insolation and efficiency.

So, to find out how many solar panels you’ll need, divide that last figure by the kWh output of your solar panel of choice.

One of the initial questions a homeowner faces when choosing on whether to install a home solar power system is, “How many solar panels do I need?” If you want to know the answer to this question, head on to How Many Solar Panels Do I Need?

If you are interested in building your own solar panel, check this step by step by guide Build Solar Panel. A mini course on how to make your own solar power system may also sound appealing to you. Go to Solar Power Calculator to sign-up for a 6 part mini course.

This article will deal with the cost of solar panels. There are two important things to take into consideration: the cost of a single solar panel, and the cost of enough solar panels to power a house. Solar Panels are the part of the system that does the actual conversion of sunlight to current and are the most critical element in the systems ability to power your home. To learn more about the heart of any solar power system, visit Residential Solar Panels.

Something that a lot of people don’t realize is how simple it can be to build your own solar panels. All it takes is a few common tools, the right knowledge, and a little bit of effort, and you can put together your own solar panel for as little as 0. Can you build your own solar panel for less than 200 dollars? You can get more information by looking at this guide Homemade Solar Panel. In this guide, you will get specific instructions on what is best to build based on the size of your house and your location. Additionally, you will also get step-by-step diagrams on how to build your solar power system.

Also, it’s worthwhile to look into the various federal, state and local tax credits, rebates and incentives that can help homeowners pay for this kind of project. Incentives like these can, in some cases, help reduce the cost of establishing a solar power system by up to half. Check your local and state government websites for more info.

If you want to know how much power you need from your solar power system, you’ll need to know the amount of power your household uses. Your monthly electicity bills – may be offered online by your utility provider if you don’t have some old copies handy – will show you how many kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity you’re using per month. Multiply the kWh figure by 1000 to find the number of watt-hours you’re using per month. Divide this number by 30 to get your average daily electricity usage in watt-hours. If you then divide this number by the average number of hours of sunlight that you get in your location, you’ll arrive at the last figure you need. To be safe, it’s recommended that you use the number of hours of sun for the day in the year that has the least amount of sunlight, so that your calculation doesn’t come up short. This final figure represents the amount of electricity per hour that you’ll need your solar power system to produce.

An installed system will usually cost you somewhere in the -9 per watt range. Multiply the figure from the previous step by . This will give you an estimate of the cost for a number of solar panels sufficient to power your home.

I’ve created a solar power calculator spreadsheet to assist you with all these calculations. Just enter the kWh figure from your electric bill, and the speadsheet will give you a total for the cost of solar panels to power your entire home. The calculator is included in my 6 part mini course on solar and wind power for the home.

Now, you have an idea as to how much it will cost to power your home completely through solar power. It’s probably a fair amount of money; initial cost is one of the biggest complaints about solar power. Keep in mind that tax credits, rebates and incentives can reduce the price significantly. Also, building your own solar panels can bring the cost down even further.

What is solar power generation? To learn more about this interesting topic, you can go to Solar Power Generation.

Someone whispers “organic” or “natural” in mainstream media as the healthy and smart choice and suddenly it is everywhere and the solar power generation is here  Organic that, natural this, but is it all just a big scheme to get people to continue to buy their products?

Green Washing. The problem is most products you buy are not all natural or organic and so these companies have a huge problem. Consumer demand started to shift towards healthier “natural and organic” alternatives to the typical non-natural or organic products on the market today. Instead of coming up with a new formula or a new product that actually IS all natural or organic they have simply ADDED a harmless organic ingredient to their products. Why would they do this? That is easy, with this miniscule amount of natural product they can now slap “Made With Organic blah” or “Includes Natural blah” and people will jump all over it, even though nothing has really changed.

So, as a consumer, what can you do to avoid the “fake” go green stuff and get real natural or organic products? It will take a little more than a stop at the super market for starters. Before you go out do some research online and try to find products that actually are all natural and where they are sold so you know where to go. But what if you are at the store already or are not sure what kind of product you want in the first place? Well it gets a little harder but there are some things you can do. Look at the label and see if all the ingredients are organic or natural. If only one is, and it is very small compared to the others on the list then you found a faker, move on.

If it is some kind of skin care product reading the label is the best way to go. The ingredients amount and weight are listed top to bottom. So if an all natural ingredient is the first on you see your probably safe. If it is the last, think again. This does apply to household products that so try to do some research before hand. There are lots of companies now that provide natural alternatives and with a little looking you can probably find some really good deals.

The biggest tattletale is that natural products have nothing to hide. So if it is all natural it will say so on the ingredients and will contain little to nothing of any other ingredient. If you see a huge list of words you can’t pronounce chances are it is not as natural or organic as the huge sticker on the front of it wants you to believe.
Living a Greener Live: What Can You Do?