Posts Tagged ‘climate change’

5 Reasons To Install Solar Panels

If you are looking for good reasons to have solar cells installed on your property then you don’t have to look very far. There are lots of them, but five of the main ones have been listed here. You will also find many companies that provide solar installations, one of them being found at http://www.solar-energy.co.uk.

1. Effects Of Climate Change

The reason that renewable energy is important to literally everyone is because of the possible effects of global warming. There have been some dire forecasts made about what could happen if global warming goes too far. Not only might there be disastrous sea level rises, but ecosystems could be affected, meaning that food production could also be destroyed.

The way that getting solar cells installed will help with this is that it reduces our demand for fossil fuels. Oil companies are not extracting and burning oil just for the fun of it, they do it because the energy is being demanded. So if we get all of our energy from renewable sources, then fossil fuels will no longer be burned and hopefully climate change will be avoided.

2. Effect Of Pollution

It is not particularly accurate to say that climate change is caused by pollution. The atmosphere does require carbon dioxide, it’s just that if there is too much of it then we could be causing problems.

This does not mean that the fossil fuels do not also cause pollution as well though, because they do, however the effects are localised. So to prevent this environmental damage as well, moving on to renewable energy will be necessary.

3. Personal Finances

Most people who are interested in renewable energy are most interested in the positive environmental effects that using it will have. However, while most people would like to be able to help, if they cannot afford a solar installation then they simply are unable to. A recent scheme by the government, the feed in tariff, which makes solar panels a better investment is therefore very welcome.

The process by which the feed in tariff operates is that the amount of energy you produce with your solar cells is monitored, and for every kWh you receive a certain sum. It isn’t very much, but it all adds up and you will normally be getting about a thousand pounds a year from it. That is in addition to the savings you make on your electricity bills.

4. The Economy

The way that climate change is going to be beaten in the end is by the whole economy running almost exclusively off renewable energy. That means that the more production there is of this type of energy, the closer we will get to that goal.

When you get a solar installation, you are also giving more money to solar companies, allowing them to expand and perhaps build more solar panels. The more solar cells there are on the market, the lower their price will be. And of course the lower the price, the more people will be able to afford them. In this way the green sector of the economy can grow, and this will again accrue environmental benefits.

5. Rising Energy Costs

One of the main factors which is pushing renewable energy in the short term, beyond any environmental concerns, is the fact that the price of conventional energy is rising. That is making it more and more viable for people and businesses to instead use renewable sources.

Of course if you have already had a solar installation, then the more other energy costs rise the more valuable the energy you are getting from the sun is going to be.

Solar Installation

If you are able to afford the initial cost of a solar installation, then for the reasons listed above, and more besides, it is going to be a very good idea.

If you’d like to learn more concerning ways you can assist in the battle against global warming, see more by Joshua Lewis on solar panels at http://www.solar-energy.co.uk.

How Do Solar Panels Work?

Solar panels are considered to be a green form of energy. In today’s world they are a serious option to consider if you want to find a more sustainable energy source and help reduce both your carbon foot print and your energy bills.

How solar panels work is they generate power from the sun by converting light in to electricity. This process of capturing the sun’s rays is done using no moving parts, with zero emissions and no or little maintenance. Solar panels are manufactured using a series of silicon cells that individually generate electricity from sunlight. As the light hits the surface of the solar panel light particles produce an electrical current on the surface of small silicon wafers.

Up to 12 volts of energy can be created from smaller solar panels. On average these smaller panels have an average of 36 solar cells in their construction. Using large solar panels with around 72 solar cells, you to produce up to 24 volts of energy.

To harness the suns energy solar panels can be stand alone or they can be wired together to create bank or array of panels and increase the amount of energy you can harness. There are big advantages of building this type of solar system, it can produce a higher voltage output so the solar panels can use smaller wiring system to deliver the power from the solar panel to the output device.

Solar panels come in different types. One is a Monocrystalline solar panels. These are most efficient but the most expensive solar panels made. The solar cells use very pure type of silicon and use a complicated growth process for the silicon crystals.

The second type of solar panel to consider is Polycrystalline. Polycrystalline solar panels are also known as Multi-crystalline and are made with Polycrystalline cells. This second type of panel is less expensive but it is not as efficient as Monocrystalline cells. This if a result of the cells are not grown in a large block of many crystals.

Amorphous solar panels are not really made from crystals like other types of panel. They are a thin layer of silicon coated on a base material such as glass or metal to create the solar panel. Amorphous solar panels can be cheaper than other alternatives but they are not as energy efficiency so more are needed to generate the same amount of energy as more expensive alternatives.

Solar panels can be a good investment to help you save money and save energy. There is an initial set up costs, which some may find expensive, but grants can help to offset this cost. Ultimately solar is a great solution to our energy needs and will help the environment and help reduce your energy bills.

If you are looking for information on solar power in Scotland get in touch with the expert solar pv installers in Scotland Absolute solar and wind.

Living Off The Grid

There is life off the grid. You only have to have the grid to buy electricity if you cannot produce your own. Living on the grid has made too many of us lose our self-sufficiency. We slavishly buy energy off the big suppliers and pay through the nose for it at the end of the month.

How many days a month do you have to work simply to pay your electricity bill? What could you do with that time or money if you did not have to use it to pay for your electricity?

The fact is that you can come off the grid and you can even sell your surplus, home-made electricity back to the grid. This is unlikely to make you a lot of money, but it is a nice feeling after only paying out for decades. However, the savings of life off the grid do not end there. There are ecological savings and the saving of human life too.

Soldiers would not be sent to combat for oil if we were not so reliant on it. The fact is, that if more people came off the grid, the price of oil would fall, because demand would go down and the oil-producing countries that believe they have a strong hold on the West would lose their power. And that can not be a bad thing either, can it?

It is easiest for people who live in their own houses to come off the grid. They have more control over their own property and can make their own decisions about what to do with it. Drill a hole here, cut a hole there – that sort of thing. Alterations or home improvements. Life off the grid is also most advantageous for families as they use the most electricity.

The most common techniques of attaining a life off the grid is by the use of solar panels, hydropower and wind turbines or even good, old-fashioned wind mills. These devices are still expensive to buy and very expensive to have installed. A 2010 study in the UK estimated that it would take 10 years to recover the investment of a professional installation of energy-making equipment.

However, you could take out the expensive labour element by making and installing the units yourself! This opportunity is accessible to anyone in the world as the diagrams and schemas for making these devices are to be had on the Internet from specialist alternative energy web sites and the components are almost every day items.

You will be able to obtain them from a hobbyist or DIY shop. They are also very easy to assemble – most teenagers could do it and so could you. If you do not like that way, you could purchase a self-assembly kit.

Once you have started to become free of the grid, you can make life off the grid even more rewarding by renewing your appliances, as and when necessary, with low energy models. If you approach life off the grid wisely, you could add new energy producing units every month until you do not get any electricity bills any more and then whatever further savings you can make will be sold back into the grid.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on many topics, but is currently involved with a favourite topic, renewable energy advantages. If you are interested in Sustainable Energy At Home, please click through to our site.

Solar Introduce: How Does Solar Power Work?

Basic principles of solar energy.

Solar Power is most likely the cleanest, most practical type of renewable energy obtainable and also it can be used in a number of forms to help power your home. Numerous gardens today use solar lights or solar garden water features. The accessibility as well as wide use of solar energy in gardens shows just how versatile it is as a source of power. The technology and the systems have become smaller, more compact and also better looking compared to when they were first developed and utilized. Early samples of solar energy systems can be observed in California where, in the 1980s, enough solar energy panels were installed to power over 10 million homes.

How do photovoltaic tiles function?

To put it simply photovoltaic tiles along with other forms of solar energy work by converting some of the energy in sunlight in to a clean form of electrical power that can be used in your houses. The PV cells include a positive and a negative slice of silicon positioned under a thin slice of glass. Since the protons of the sunlight beat down onto the PV cell they knock the neutrons from the silicon. The negatively charged free neutrons are attracted to the silicon but are trapped by the magnetic field that is formed from the opposing fields. Little wires on the silicon catch these neutrons and when linked in a circuit an electric current is formed.

This reaction provides Direct Current electricity though, and it should be passed via an inverter to be transformed in to an Alternating Current used in our homes to power any kind of electric items. A few of the power is lost with this part of the process as the inverter is only close to 95% efficient however it is a a lot higher efficiency than was once available.

The dynamics of the PV cell means there is minimum maintenance necessary and there are no moving parts; which means that a typical Photovoltaic cell could last as much as 40 years without any work besides an annual clean.

How to use them to power our house?

There are many methods to make use of solar energy around the house and not only for powering. You can use this to heat your hot water, heat your swimming pool or even your own central heating or even if you have lots of roof space and a reasonable quantity of sunlight you may get a grid tie system; a grid tie system indicates that not only can you power your whole house but during those times when you produce an excess of electrical power you are able to sell it back to the grid. An efficiently solar powered house can reasonably produce between 75 and 100% of their own power and because of the grid tie system this implies you may well not need to pay for electrical power ever again.

Looking to find the best deal on Solar Power, then visit http://solarintroduce.com to find the best advice on Solar Energy for you.

Saving The Earth With Solar Energy

With an issue as huge as global warming, it can feel as if we are helpless as individuals to do anything about it. However, as individuals are all there are, it is actually actions by many individuals that make big changes. By getting solar panels for your home, you’ll be part of the group using solar power to fight global warming.

The Problem Of Global Warming

There is a lot of scientific work which has been done on global warming, both its causes and its effects. Both are now pretty well known. The main cause, for instance, is an increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. That’s a greenhouse gas that heats the earth up.

This is how it works. When the sun shines on the planet, much of the heat simply bounces off. If there was nothing to stop it, to trap it, then the world would be so cold nothing could live on it. However, as we have greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, which trap the heat, we are able to save what we need.

The problems arise when there are too many greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Then the planet is warmed up more than it should be, more than is natural, and this can have a variety of effects.

- Sea Level Rises. One of the problems that excessive warming can cause is the melting of the ice caps and the Northern and Southern extremes of the planet. This could cause the sea levels to rise, which would cause problems for coastal communities of course.

- Diminished Food Production. Climate change could also lead to our not being able to grow enough food to survive. That’s because ecosystems are in a delicate balance, and if that balance is disturbed by a greater heat temperature, then we may not be able to grow the food we need to survive.

Non-Renewable Energy

Given these potentially disastrous consequences, the question has to arise as to why we do not simply stop burning fossil fuels. The answer is that if we did that, the economy would quickly collapse. We would not have the energy we needed not just for things like transport but, again, to grow food.

So while continuing to burn fossil fuels could lead to disastrous results, stopping using them certainly would. Clearly we need another alternative then, and that of course is renewable energy, for example solar energy.

A Solar Installation

It doesn’t really matter what form of renewable energy we use, it could be wind, tidal, geothermal or any other kind. The reason that solar power is the most popular though is that it can be used in so many ways. It can be used in very large arrays, on vehicles, or the roofs of houses.

This means that if you have a house then you can probably get a solar installation and be involved with fighting global warming. If enough people and businesses do this then eventually we will be able to make the switch to renewable energy and leave fossil fuels behind.

Financial Incentives

As it is such an important issue, everyone should really be doing this. The problem there, however, is that not everyone can afford to. In order to make this less of an issue, the government has introduced government incentives which make solar panels more affordable.

The financial incentive which is now in place is called the feed in tariff. It has already made solar energy, uk production, more prominent. You qualify for the scheme by having MCS accredited solar installers carry out the installation, and on average people make around 1,000 a year through it.

If you would be interested in learning more on how you are able to help in the struggle against climate change, discover more articles by James Leafe on solar panels at Solar Energy UK Renewables.