Homemade Solar Cell

More and more homes, offices and devices are now relying on solar power as people are becoming more aware of the potential dangers of other unnatural sources of power. It is important that you know more about the idea to determine if it is the best option for you. Solar power can render several benefits for the long term. You can take advantage of the features by choosing the right type and maximizing the effect right in your own home.

About solar power

The most basic definition of solar power is the creation of energy from sunlight. This can be done both directly and indirectly. Direct generation of solar power is through the use of photo voltaic cells, or solar panels in other words. Indirect electricity generation from sunlight is through the use of concentrated solar power or CSP. This basically is when light is focused onto a central point to generate heat to boil water and then produce energy. As abundant as solar power is, in 2009 it only made up 0.02% of the total energy output in the entire world.

If solar power use could double every 2 to 3 years, it can become the dominate source of energy for the century. The biggest solar power plants, are concentrating solar thermal plants, although new multi-megawatt photovoltaic plants have also been created. More and more countries are investing in the bigger photovoltaic power stations, like Germany and Portugal.

More Solar Power

Solar is a predictable source of energy. This means that even though its not available constantly, it can be reliably predicted when it will be available. And with certain technologies such as solar thermal concentrators which can store heat, the power production from solar power can be extended past daylight hours.

These come in the form of heat and are considered as spare solar energy that can readily be made available overnight or at times when solar power is not available to create electricity. Orbital solar power collection also avoids the intermittent use, although satellite launching and beaming of the gathered power are required to get antennas on Earth. The enhanced intensity of the sunlight over the atmosphere also tends to boost the generation efficiency.

About Solar Energy

Humans have long used forms of solar energy. Secondary sources of solar power such as hydroelectric, wind, wave and biomass comprise the majority of our solar energy usage. Only a fraction of the vast available solar energy we receive is ever used.

Solar powered electrical generation depends on photovoltaics and heat engines. The uses of solar energy are only limited by human ingenuity. Some of the other uses of solar energy include space cooling and heating via solar architecture, solar hot water, solar cooking, potable water via distillation and disinfection, day lighting and high temperature process heat for industrial functions. Solar panels are one of the most effective and basic ways to gather solar energy.

Want to find out more about solar power? Then visit John Purvis’s site on how to choose the best solar panel for your needs. This article, So What Is Solar Power Anyway? has free reprint rights.

With our current economic melt down and energy prices fluctuating daily, many of us are thinking of installing solar panel power to contribute to our homes’ energy needs, and reduce our power bills.

But when you install solar power, how much do you actually have to generate to say cut your bills by 50%? And what kind of costs will you be looking at?

Here is a simple 4-step formula to help you calculate your home’s solar panel watt requirements and costs:

1 – How Much Power Do You Use Per Day?:

Your first step is to work out the average daily kilowatt hours (kWh) used. This can be done by looking back at your last twelve months power bills, and see how much power used per month, and get the monthly average. This will give you a better estimate of your average power needs by eliminating the effect of the seasons. It is calculated by adding up all 12 bills and dividing the total power used by 12. If you do not have the the past year’s bills, then look at your most recent one.

Then divide your monthly usage by 30 (the average number of days in a month, to get your daily power used.

- Here is an example: Lets say the power used last month was 800 kWh. Your average daily usage would be 800/30 = 26.7 kWh per day.

- Now if you want to only halve your power bill then you need to produce 26.7 / 2 = 13.4 kWh of solar panel watt power per day.

2 – Calculate Total Solar Panel Watt Needs:

Before you can work this out, you need to find out how many usable hours of sunlight your region gets per day. A simple way to find that out is to have a look at an insolation map – there is one available on our website, where the original article was posted.

Once you know your daily sunlight hours, go back to your daily kilowatt hours needed and divide it by the daily sunlight hours, then multiply it by a factor of 1.25 (takes into account energy losses from the solar panel watt wiring, battery , and inverter)

- From the previous example, if you live near California where the average daily usable hours of sunlight is 5.5 hrs, the solar wattage needed is:

13.4 kWh / 5.5hrs x 1.25 = 3.045 kW or 3045 Watts per day.

This means we need solar panels with the capacity to produce at least 3045 Watts of power.

3 – The Cost Of The Panels:

Next you need to work out how much it will cost to buy solar panels that produce at least 3045 Watts. Currently the highest average cost for solar panels in North America is $4.85 a Watt.

- In our example: It will cost us at the most 3045 x 4.85 = $14,768 to install solar panels to halve our power bill. And that’s before wiring, charge controllers, batteries, inverters, and electrician costs.

4 – Offset Tax Credits And Rebates:

Before you think you are going to have to fork out at least $14,768 for only 3045 Watt of solar panel power, you need to consider the effect of government subsidies and incentives.

With the new renewable energy tax credits going into effect from January 1, 2009, and state-side rebates from states such as New York, Connecticut, New Jersey or California, our solar installation costs will be much lower than expected.

- Continuing on from our example: If we lived in California, our state tax incentives would be about 20 % of the investment, and the federal rebates 40% of the remaining cost. So, our solar panels would only end up costing us:

$14,768 – $14,768 x (20%) – $14,768 x (1 – 20%) x 40% = $7,089.

Just remember that this formula is basic way for you to get an idea of what home solar power will cost you. Some things could not be factored in – such as the state or country you live in, the special offers of local solar companies and the cost of the other parts (inverters, charge controllers, batteries, installation fees).

However, from the example, you can see that for Californian to reduce their power bill by half, they would have to buy $14,768 worth of solar panels, costing them $7089 after rebates. A cheaper option would be to learn to source affordable and even free solar cells, and build your own solar panels. This can be done by following a relatively inexpensive step-by-step solar power manual, such as Earth4Energy.