This video discuses wiring solar panels for different voltages and currents. This is a simple explanation of “Series” and “Parallel” configurations for solar panels and DC batteries.
I supposed if we have to have parking meters they may as well be home solar powered. I remember when they were clockwork, the user would wind them up as they inserted a coin, but in recent years they have all switched to digital and use a 9v battery. Binghamton University in upstate New York have now installed home solar powered meters.
Binghamton University is one of eleven colleges in the USA to be listed in The Princeton Review’s first ever “green rating†of colleges.
Another excellent video from Green Power Science on using a solar panel to charge batteries and using a modified sine inverter to power mains appliances.
I’ve mostly talked about home solar power installations for the home up to now. There’s another area to consider and that is portable home solar power. Getting cheap electricity at home is easy. The utility company delivers it to the door, as much as you want instantly as long as you pay the bill. But what if you are back country camping or miles from land in a sailboat?
Luckily solar panel manufacturers have not been idle in this respect and there is a wide range of ready to use products to charge your cell phone or your GPS. There are even backpacks with built in solar panels. 12 volt panels are available for your boat or RV. Connect two clips to your battery, stick the panel in sunlight and you get free electricity.
Here are a few of the more popular products:
A 5W charger to maintain your car, RV or marine battery for less that $40 at the time of writing from Amazon
A backpack complete with solar panel and battery storage for camping trips. Currently a little over $200 at Amazon
A home solar powered laptop charger prices at an impressive $350. Ouch. I wonder if the backpack charger would work with laptops? Let me know if you find out.
These are obviously just a sample of the many products available. Prices are still a bit too high for the truly portable solutions but they are becoming more affordable each month and manufacturers scale up the production of solar cells.
I wrote recently about home solar power rebates and how they can give you a free, or nearly free, home home solar power system in many US states. But what if you don’t live in a state that doesn’t have a rebate scheme? And what if your state plan is oversubscribed or only covers a small part of the cost?
Solar power tax credits to the rescue!
In 2008 congress extended the tax credit on residential home solar power installations for a further eight years and also removed the previous $2,000 cap. Many states are also matching the federal credit, so if you are dipping into your own pocket for solar panels this could make a big difference to your tax bill next April.
Due to state and federal requirement for power companies to source more green energy, they are more willing than ever to buy back generated electricity (it makes your meter run backwards) thus eliminating the need for expensive battery storage for home use.
Consult your tax professional before making any commitment.
Every now and again along comes an invention that makes you think “Why on earth hasn’t it been done before?”
New Jersey based Entech Solar have devised a solar panel that produces both electricity and hot water at the same time. The panels contain PV cells as well as a fluid pipe that heats water.
“The devices will be set up in arrays ranging from 100 kilowatts to 5 to 10 megawatts in size and sold largely to industrial customers and corporate campuses”
Sadly not available for home use but it’s a pointer to the future.
Via Greentech Media
Harnessing the power of the sun is not a new concept but as today’s technologies increase in sophistication and power, new means and methods of bringing the energy provided by the sun to all of us are attracting attention in the media.
The beauty of home solar power is that architects can incorporate home solar power solutions into their original plans for buildings. Solar power, however, isn’t just being used for an energy source. Although many buildings are including a so-called ‘Active Solar’ concept; technologies that are used to turn common sunlight, or solar energy, into tangible and usable heat or electricity.
Active Solar systems, however, do require electronic or mechanical mechanisms to drive their functionality. In turn, this requires some form of energy which is more than likely to consume the ‘conventional’ energy sources of oil, gas or coal. An alternative to ‘Active Solar’ is the complete opposite, ‘Passive Solar’. A ‘Passive Solar’ system will incorporate technologies that will turn sunlight into usable energy but with a limitation on the amount of active mechanical systems required to drive the passive solar system. This will, virtually, eliminate the need for any conventional energy consumption at all, although it is still rare to find an entirely independent passive solar system available. The common image that is created when passive solar energy is described are solar panels on the roof of a house in a sun drenched country. This isn’t always the case. A ‘passive solar’ system can even include a solarium, or glass room built to ‘trap’ the sunlight, attached onto a house. The clear benefit of passive systems is of course the almost non-existent operating costs and the incredibly reduced emission of ‘greenhouse gases’.
DIY solar panel in action. This uses 45W of panels which you can get from eBay or Harbor Freight Tools with a total cost of around $250. Shown running lighting, a fan and a drill.
This is a new one for me!
Spotted in a local supermarket - bottles of wine made with solar energy. Did they mean the sun rippened the grapes perhaps?
Photo by futureshape
I wrote in an earlier post about the economics of home home solar power and described how it wasn’t an option, in pure economic terms, for most home owners.
If you are lucky enough to live in certain areas of the USA, there’s one factor that will completely reverse this assumption. Many states, or energy companies themselves, will rebate a large part of the cost of a professional home home solar power installation. I checked on one area at random, Austin, Texas. The local energy company there will give you 80% of the cost of the installation as a direct rebate then, additionally, buy surplus electricity from you at wholesale rates. To quote from their site:
For a typical residence, the cost of installing a one kilowatt (1,000 watts) solar photovoltaic system—the smallest considered practical—is between $6,000 and $10,000. Austin Energy will rebate $4,500 ($4.50 x 1,000 watts) of that.
Their figures are a little out-of-date according to my research as the cost of PV cells has been falling and you should be able to get a 2.5KWhp system installed for around $10,000. Their maximum rebate in this case would be capped at 80% of your installation cost, or $8,000. You would therefore only pay $2,000 for a 2.5KW solar energy system. Factor in the money you will make from selling back surplus electricity and you will be in pocket after a relatively short time.
Here’s another example for sunny Florida. They are offering rebates of $4 per Watt for installed PV systems. If you get a 2.5KW system installed for $10,000 then they will rebate you the entire $10,000 unless I’m missing something in the fine print. If you can feed surplus electricity back to the utility company (most allow this) it’s a free perpetual income stream.
You can find details of the rebates in your area at DSIRE - The database of state incentives for renewables and efficiency.
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