People routinely decide to buy solar energy panels for home because they are environmentally friendly. There are certain basic factors to be considered before buying a solar power panel.

The most vital consideration is the energy level wanted to be generated by the solar energy panel. We can figure out the energy consumption from the monthly electricity bills. From the electricity bill we will be able to find out the quantity of energy consumed per month. From this monthly power usage information, we can work out the daily power usage by dividing the monthly consumption by the total number of days of that month. This information will give your daily consumption of electricity. Suspect if this panel is exposed to sun's rays for six hours, then the panel can generate energy for six hours and this energy have to be used to meet our daily electricity requirements. Thus, by dividing the daily electricity obligation by 6 and by multiplying the resulting value with 1.15, the value of wattage for the solar energy panel can be acquired.

The next major point of consideration is to check the capacity of the roof. This is done in order to identify if the roof will sustain the daily load. Based on the roof capacity, we can get the solar cells installed to your home.

There are certain preparations to be carried out in the house before calling upon the technicians to install the solar panel. First among these is, selecting the area where the panel should be fixed. This area should be in such a manner that it gets maximum exposure to sunlight. The place where the panel is going to be installed should be free from difficulties like trees, cables and so on. Though the technicians take care of the installation of the panel, it is our duty to check the panels are installed perfectly.

After installation, certain upkeep will be necessary by the panels and it must be sorted. The panel must be frequently cleaned with water and soap. It is preferable to scrub the panel once or more in a week. This will take away the dust, dirt and other impurities in the panel. The lifetime of a solar panel is thirty years. Though the panel wants regular upkeep, the benefits associated with it outweigh the maintenance costs and makes a solar energy panels cost-effective. These panels derive solar electricity from the sun and batteries are present in the panel to store the energy. So they supply continual power supply with no interruption.

Another important advantage of solar cells for home is that they don't harm the environment with carbon emissions. By proper installation and upkeep of these panels, we can prevent further environment degradation.

If you liked this piece about Electrician in Dallas, then go over and go over this different website dealing with dallas texas electrician.

Technorati Tags: dallas, electrician, home, Home repair, panel installation, solar panel, solar panel installation

No related posts.

Reuters analysts estimate that the current fall in solar panel prices will continue until 2011 which means great news for consumers.

Jenny Chase of New Energy Finance in London said that she does not think the solar panel market has bottomed out yet meaning even lower prices are on the way.

What is good for consumers is not good for solar panel manufacturers who are struggling without lower profit margins because of the fall in solar panel prices.

The reasons for the continued plunge in solar panel prices is due to several factors which include: the credit crunch, and the fall in price of oil and natural gas.

For consumers though, this is great news, especially when you consider the increase in state and federal tax incentives for people who install solar panels.

Technorati Tags: energy, solar panel, solar panel prices, solar panels

No related posts.

Walk into your shed and turn the light on without having to connect to the power grid. This low power pulling LED shed light has 10 bright LED's. The LED's get their power from a solar panel. The solar panel charges the 3 AA rechargeable batteries during the day.

It comes with a 20-foot extension cord so that you can position the shed light where you want. You can mount the light on the wall, ceiling, or just use as a work bench utility light.

A pull chain on the solar panel light allows quick and easy on and off.

A switch on the light lets you select between 10 LED's that last 2 hours, or 5 LED's that last 4 hours. If you're like me, you don't use the shed that much and so the few times I do go in it at night to grab something, I want it as bright as possible. So I keep mine on the 10 LED's setting. But if you plan on being in your shed for more than 2 hours at a time, you can use the 5 LED setting that lasts for 4 hours.

The solar panel shed light has an average rated life of 100,000 hours which means it will run for many years without problems.

Includes three AA rechargeable batteries and all mounting hardware.

Technorati Tags: power grid, shed light, solar panel, work bench

No related posts.

An easy, cheap way to start out in solar is by putting in solar lighting in your yard. For about $20 you can get a solar light with a variety of mounting options. Some solar light kits come with a built-in stake so that all you have to do is to stick it in the ground.

Most solar power light kits are one-piece. The PV module is on top of the light itself. You just put it in the ground where it gets lots of sun during the day and you are good to go.

The solar power light kit you choose should not blink or change colors if you are looking for background lighting. The best location for the spotlight variety are around porches, driveways, and walk ways. These are areas where people will be walking. I have even seen a light placed near a garbage can so that it is no longer necessary to flip the light switch anymore when taking the trash out at night.

You can also get solar power lights that are connected to motion detectors.

A word of warning: avoid the cheap solar power lights. You know it's cheap if the housing of the light is made out of flimsy plastic. These lights cost less but they don't last for very long. Aluminum is good. Heavy black plastic is good. You can tell if a solar light kit is good by how much it costs, avoid the really cheap ones. The good quality ones go for about $60 for 6 matching solar lights.

Technorati Tags: light kits, pv module, solar light, solar lighting, solar power

No related posts.

For a class project, I have to come up with an experiment using solar power. I'm thinking about connecting a solar panel (low volts) to the motor of a very small plastic hand-held fan. Does anyone know where I can buy a solar panel to accomplish such a thing?

You do not want low volts, you want low amps. The small fan you are talking about still needs to be plugged into a 12 volt outlet, I have one in my bedroom. The solar panel you want costs about $20. You can check it out on Amazon by going to Sunforce 50012 1.8 Watt Solar Battery Maintainer

You wire this solar panel to a controller, the controller to a single battery that you are charging, from the battery to an inverter which converts the DC current into AC, and then you plug the fan into the inverter.

I sense an A+ coming your way.

Technorati Tags: buy solar panel, solar battery, solar panel, using solar power

No related posts.

How does the amount of chemical energy stored in plants compare to the electrical energy stored by solar panels hooked up to batteries?

Most plants are around 1.5% efficient at turning sunlight into a useful form of energy it can use. Most solar panels are somewhere around 20% efficient.

Technorati Tags: solar energy

No related posts.

Can you please explain to me some disadvantages and advantages of using solar energy? I also was wondering why it is called a renewable resource. Can you also tell me how much solar energy is left and how long it will last? Thank you so much.

Your easiest question first. The Sun will continue to shine for another 2-4 billion years. So no need to worry how long it will last.

Solar energy depends on lots of sunshine, one disadvantage is that on any day where there is no sunshine your solar panels will not generate any electricity. Such days are when it is: cloudy, overcast, rainy, foggy, and snowy. Another challenge is converting solar energy from DC to AC that you can use in your home. Solar panels generate direct current (DC) and this has to be converted to AC current to make it useful in running things in your house. Another challenge is in the storage of electricity. In order to store energy, batteries are required, so the DC current from the solar panels can charge the batteries, and then the DC current must be converted to AC.

The good news is, solar energy is clean, not pollution except for the manufacture of the panels and of the batteries.

Technorati Tags: batteries, electricity, home solar panels, renewable resource, solar energy, sunshine, using solar energy

No related posts.

An appliance by appliance approach to energy independence is the perfect approach for most. Utilizing this approach to solar power, you can slowly build out your solar power system when money becomes available to you.

For example, a great way to start out is to set a small goal such as powering a few lights or your computer with solar power and then build out from there. For an example, let us say that the first thing we want to power is a computer.

The average computer needs 200 watts (that includes monitor, modem, etc.) The average home uses a computer 14 hours a week. We then multiple 14 by the number of watts used by a computer per hour, which is 200: 14 x 200 = 2800.

But conversion is never perfect. You need to plan for a loss of electricity due to the inverter. Inverters are a necessary component in all solar power systems. There purpose is to take the DC current that is produced by your solar panels and convert it into useable AC current like the kind you have running through your home. In order to plan for this loss, you need to multiply watts by 1.15: 2,800 x 1.15 = 3219.99999.

Your next step is to plan for battery loss. When a battery loses electricity and then recharges, a small loss of electricity happens. To quantify this loss, you multiple by 1.2: 3219.99999 x 1.2 = 3863.99999

Now you want to figure out how many amp hours per day that your computer needs. To figure this out you need to divide 3863.99999 by 7 to get 551.99999

Notice that when people talk about solar power, the use kilowatts not watts. Watts and kilowatts are the same thing. The reason people like to use kilowatts instead of watts is because with kilowatts the numbers are much smaller and therefore easier to communicate with. To convert 551.99999 to kilowatts you divide by 1,000 (kilo means 1,000): 551.99999 / 1000 = 0.55199999

You now need to know the number of hours you have of sunlight per day. If you live near Los Angeles, California then the average is 5.62 hours of sun light per day. I will use Los Angeles, California.

We are almost done, hang in there. Now we want to calculate the kilowatts of solar panels needed. To figure this out, you divide kilowatts by the hours per day of sun: 0.55199999 / 5.62 = 0.09822. So you need 0.09822 kilowatts worth of solar panels to power your computer.

When you price solar panels, you will note that they are by wattage. If you buy a 100 watt panel, then you will need 6 of them to power your computer. To calculate this you take the amp hours per day that the computer needs, 551.99999, and you divide it by the watts of the solar panel: 551.99999 / 100 = 5.52

Technorati Tags: solar power calculator

Related posts:

1. How To Calculate The Number Of Solar Panels Needed To Run Any Appliance How To Calculate The Number Of Solar Panels Needed To Run Any Appliance An appliance by appliance approach to energy independence is the perfect approach for most. Utilizing this...
2. 100 Watt Solar Panel 100 Watt Solar Panels 100 Watt Solar Panels The chart below gives an example of what a 100-watt panel will run in a typical week. The panel will generate approximately...
3. RV Solar Panels Live Auctions On RV Solar Panels The power consumption of each appliance is stated somewhere on the appliance itself, and is expressed in terms of AC watts or AC...

What if you could increase the energy output of a solar panel by 300 to 400 percent for a cost of $2 per solar panel? That's exactly what these Caltech scientists have done.

Current solar concentrators use costly optical equipment to focus sunlight on a solar panel in order to increase the amount of electricity produced. A company by the name of Cool Earth has created a cheaper alternative that works much better.

They have designed a plastic bubble that goes around the solar panel that is pressurized with air. Cool Earth's solar balloon is made from $2 worth of plastic like the kind found in potato chip bags. The air pressure inside the plastic balloon is changed to alter the shape of the bubble to focus the sun's rays onto a solar panel. The plastic bubble boosts electricity generation 300 to 400 times!

This is huge. You can look at this from various perspectives. Let's say that a solar panel system currently in use will take 10 years to pay for itself. By increasing the output of the solar panel system by 400 times, the amount of time before the system pays for itself drops to an incredible 2.5 years!

Cool Earth plans to move forward with this technology by opening a solar power plant.

"Cool Earth Solar power plants will produce electricity at a cost lower than natural gas-fueled plants. Our innovative solar technology delivers economically as well as environmentally," said Cool Earth Solar Chief Executive Officer, Rob Lamkin.

To discover more about this incredible technology go to Cool Earth's website at http://www.coolearthsolar.com/

Technorati Tags: Caltech, caltech scientists, cool earth, electricity generation, output of a solar panel, solar concentrators, solar panel system, solar power plant, solar power plants, solar technology

No related posts.

PowerFilm R15-1200 Flexible Solar Panels The PowerFilm® Rollable Solar Powered Battery Chargers are made with PowerFilm®, the world's most rollable, lightweight, and durable solar technology. The panels made with professional marine-grade components and rugged UV-stabilized materials. It is waterproof and Cadmium free. We offer a comprehensive line of accessories to provide complete power solutions for your diverse portable and remote power needs. These accessories include professional marine-grade components with connectors that match the PowerFilm® Rollable Series output cord. Operating voltage 15.4V, Operating current 1.2 Amps, weight 1.9 lbs. (.88 kg.)Unrolled dimensions 12" X 73" (305mm X 1858mm), Rolled dimensions 12" X 4.5". Sundance Solar is proud to offer this high quality line of products from our friends at Iowa Thin Film.

Check it out on Amazon at PowerFilm 20 Watt Solar Powered Battery Charger

Technorati Tags: amps, chargers, flexible solar panels, powerfilm, solar panel, solar powered battery charger, solar technology, thin film

Related posts:

1. Flexible Solar Panels Live Auctions On Flexible Solar Panels Flexible Solar Panels are as thin as a sheet of paper. In addition to increasing absorption efficiency to 10-15 percent, these panels are...
2. 100 Watt Solar Panels Live 100 Watt Solar Panel Auctions Each cell or wafer in a solar panel operating at maximum performance, generates 1¼ to 2 volts DC. The cells are wired in...
3. Flexible Solar Panel Flexible Solar Panel Flexible Solar Panel The best thing about a flexible solar panel is that it is portable. Flexible solar panels are lightweight and very durable. Many can even...
4. RV Solar Panels Live Auctions On RV Solar Panels The power consumption of each appliance is stated somewhere on the appliance itself, and is expressed in terms of AC watts or AC...