Home Solar Power

Using solar lights as a way of lighting the outside of your home has become an ever popular way of adding a great lighting scheme and improving security round your property in one go. You might even have noticed the use of this type of lighting more and more in designs of public outdoor spaces as well. This is because as the quality of the lights have improved so they have become more popular with commercial designers with a green agenda.

Most solar lights that you will find on sale today will have an in-built cell that will take the sun’s energy and store it the lights battery as electrical power. One of the great things about the new generation of solar lights is the automation of virtually all the tasks; the lights will even turn themselves on and off automatically.

The efficiency of this type of light has increased many-fold in recent years. This has added to the popularity of the many different types of solar lights you can now buy, from walkway lighting, to solar driveway lights, and various styles for your deck.

To install this type of lighting design for your yard or deck couldn’t be simpler. Because solar lights do not need any wires or cables, you won’t need to employ an electrician to install the lights for you - think how much that is going to save you! The very fact that the placement of the lights is not governed by the need for cables, you can place them almost anywhere that gets a reasonable amount of sunshine.

Five top facts about outside solar lights

1. Light your yard or deck for free - no electricity to pay for

2. Easy to install, no cables or installation costs

3. Automatic operation - set the lights in place and forget them.

4. Lots of different designs and styles to choose from.

5. Home security is increased due to extra light at night

In my opinion the most popular reason people choose solar lights is because they cost nothing to run. Because all of the lights energy needs are provided by the sun, you will never have an electric bill, associated with your outdoor lights, to pay. The only maintenance you should have to do with these lights is checking the batteries annually, they will even switch themselves on at night!

In my opinion, the most rewarding reason for using outdoor solar lights is the positive impact they make to our environment. Unlike standard electricity, home solar power gives off zero emissions and uses zero fossil fuels. Whether you are in the developing world or in one of the world’s major economies, solar lighting has a strong part to play in providing part of our energy needs for the foreseeable future.

To learn a lot more about home solar powered yard lights, the authors webpages are full of useful information and tips on what to look for.

Solar Energy energy saving, gardens, home improvements, lighting, Solar, Solar Energy, solar lights

A few years back if I were to ask you what a home wind turbine was, you would most probably describe a massive tower with over-sized rotors plaguing the fields. But, with technology advancing and the ever-increasing energy crisis, it is now possible to have your own, scaled-down home wind turbine. What’s more is if you want to avoid the exorbitant prices of expert systems, you can learn to build and erect it yourself.

So, how does a home wind turbine make power?

A home wind turbine makes power by spinning a generator. The generator is attached to the rotor, made up of three aerodynamic blades, that is then attached to a tower. To keep the turbine facing the wind, the rotor has a tail, that acts as a weather vain.

If you do not know what a turbine/motor is or how it works, let me explain. Copper coils spin past magnets, and create an electromagnetic charge. This charge is then sent through wires to the batteries where it is stored. To use that charge in your home it needs to be passed through an inverter that changes the current from direct to alternating current. The reason wind power has become more popular on a small scale, is because of the improvement and efficiency in the design of the turbine.

Depending on your area’s wind conditions, the tower can vary in length. If you live near the sea where it is windy, the tower can be shorter, but in low-wind areas the tower needs to be taller to catch as much wind possible.

Over time the blades have improved drastically as researchers developed lighter, stronger, more efficient blades, with the capability of turning even in the lightest breeze. Back in the day, wind turbines had five blades, and looked similar to windmill water pumps, but recently they have moved to three blades, taking the form of over-sized airplane rotors. Like the tower, the blades vary in size, according to your wind conditions and energy requirements.

While so far we have been explaining the typical horizontal axis wind turbine, there is another design that is starting to gain popularity for small-scale projects. It is the vertical axis wind turbine or VAWT. Very different to the standard horizontal axis turbine, the VAWT spins on a vertical axis, and almost looks like a waterwheel put on its side. Since the VAWT tends to operate low to ground, it needs far more wind to make it turn efficiently, so it is not the ideal option for homeowners or small businesses. The VAWT has also been accused by ecologists of interrupting and harming various migratory birds, making it less attractive for green enthusiasts.

What you need to know before you buy a home wind turbine:

How big is the property?

Home wind turbines tend to work better in open areas expanding over an acre, where few nearby buildings can deflect the wind.

How windy is it where you live?

For the system to operate effectively, it is best to install the wind turbine is areas where the average wind speed is at least 11 miles per hour. You could get away with this by erecting a taller tower, and fix on larger blades.

Other uses for the wind turbine:

If you could use the turbine for other purposes, such as pumping in water from outside, then it may be more useful than you think. This is the reason you see so many windmills scattered over farms - they help pump water from reservoirs to the farmhouse.

Does my house need a constant power supply?

If you’re a home business owner that requires a constant power supply, or are just tired of the electricity company cutting off the power, then a home wind turbine may be the right solution. Even if the wind turbine is not strong enough to power the entire house for an extended period of time, it will be able to store the power for when you really need it.

Those are the keys to figuring out how much energy you need it to make, how tall the tower needs to be, and ideal sized blades, and the potential costs and benefits of buying a home wind turbine.

The great thing about technology is that it is always improving. So much so that motors have become smaller, efficient and cheap enough for us to attach a few small turbines right on the roof, and produce the same power as a larger turbine on a tall tower.

While commercially available wind power kits can cost up to $100,000, you can learn to make your power for a fraction of the cost, with part and materials sourced at home and the nearby hardware outlet. Even better news is that the United States and other countries offer tax relief for green energy homeowners, so not only can you cut your electricity costs, but your tax expenses too.

Forget about using the home made energy guide to make your own power at home! Try the Earth4Energy Instructions for free, and see how you can cut your power costs by up to 80% with your own home wind turbine and home solar power.

Solar Energy alternative energy, environment, hobby, Home Improvement, home wind turbine, lighting, men, money saving tips, renewable energy, society, Solar Energy, Solar Power, technology, wind power

How much do you know about solar lighting? Most people don’t realize that it can be used both indoors and out. While many of us may not have considered using home solar power to provide indoor lighting, it is becoming a growing trend world wide. It is a great way to save both money and energy.

Did you know that home solar power use dates back to over 2,600 years ago? Even still, indoor solar lighting technology is fairly new. It is, however becoming more and more frequently used in the U.S. to bring light to small structures such as park restrooms, service sheds, utility structures and others. These are locations far from established grids where conventional power sources would be cumbersome and expensive to run. There are even some commercial buildings that have begun utilizing indoor solar lighting, and the trend is growing in popularity.

Most of the indoor solar lighting in industrial use today is a mixture of solar light tube and home solar powered light technology. Combinations of home solar powered lighting and light tube technology are being used in high security applications like prisons. Solar light tubes are perfectly suited for this application, due to their ability to transfer considerable amounts of light to the interior of the structure using a very small footprint. This “hybrid” lighting method of combining home solar powered lights as a back up to these light tubes produces a solar lighting system that is extremely efficient and effective.

There are actually many uses for indoor solar lights; like lighting up your garage, shed or gazebo - not to mention the inside of your home. The fact that you don’t need an electrical source is a big advantage. All you need is a direct source of sunlight. No worrying about light bulbs or power outages. Indoor solar light installation is usually fairly easy and requires little if any maintenance and upkeep.

Many of us have buildings like garages and sheds that are far away from an electrical source making it difficult and expensive to provide a source of power. Indoor solar lighting can easily solve that dilemma and is very cost effective. You can also use products like solar skylights and track lights in your home.

With so many applications currently being made available, indoor solar lighting is showing a rapid increase in popularity. Peruse your local hardware store and you are sure to find lots of these “green” lighting products. As the technology becomes more advanced, more applications will be discovered for indoor solar lighting. The best part is that with the addition of indoor solar lights to your project, you will be saving money and the environment!

Need an easy solar lights project? Go to easysolarlighting.blogspot.com. For more info on solar technology, try solarlightssite.com.

Solar Energy alternative energy, energy effeciency, green technology, home and garden, Home Improvement, lighting, Solar Energy, Solar lighting, solar lights, Solar Power, solar technology, technology

Over the past year a lot of diy energy guides have appeared on the internet, promising to teach even a complete technical newbie how to make their own home solar and wind power, and reduce their energy bills by up to 80%. One those guides happens to be Make Natural Power. But does it deliver what is promises? And is how does it stack up to the other guides?

The best thing about Make Natural Power is its cover. Everything beyond that was disappointing to say the least. Although it appears to have all the features of the the other guides, the information is very thin and not well-explained.

Good Aspects:

You will be able to build a solar and wind power system, but it will take you a very long time, unless you have great technical skills.

The Cons about getting the guide:

* Confusing illustrations

Not only were the diagrams for both the solar and wind power instructions boring and dull, but they were badly labeled and and not even to scale.

* Low quality home solar power system

The instructions were not easy to follow, and the illustrations did not help either. Because of this, the reader is required to figure things out on their own, resulting in a useless solar panel system, if it ever get finished.

* “Thin” maintenance information

While I eventually got my wind generator to work, it ended up breaking after 2 months. This could have been prevented if I was given correct advice on how to effectively maintain the wind turbine.

* Slow customer support

A lot of the time we had to contact customer service for assistance. But they were very slow to respond, and by the time they did reply we had either forgotten what the problem or had figured it out ourselves. On average, it will take over 5 days to get the answers you need.

Overall Rating

If you are willing to get a cheap knock-off of Earth4Energy, but for the same price, then by all means get the Make Natural Power guide. The book was terribly written, the instructions were confusing, and it was not a pleasant experience for me.

Tim McDonald recommends you rather try Earth4Energy for FREE, if you want to build a quality DIY Renewable Energy system and actually reduce your electricity bill.

categories: make natural power,home solar power,solar energy,wind power,renewable energy,alternative energy,home improvement,environment,technology,lighting,hobby,money saving tips,men,society

Solar Energy alternative energy, environment, hobby, Home Improvement, lighting, make natural power, men, money saving tips, renewable energy, society, Solar Energy, Solar Power, technology, wind power