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Residential Solar Power Solutions

It seems that fuel costs for the home rise above inflation each and every year. I'm not completely sure why this is the case. There have been many changes in the way utility companies are run in many countries. The biggest change is that many companies have become privatized. This means that they are responsible to their shareholders and their aim is to make a profit. This may explain why prices have been going up from a cynical perspective.

However, the companies themselves are at pains to point out that the real reason for increases is that the fuel used is becoming scarce. Coal, oil and gas are resources that are used by power stations to create electricity or are supplied directly to homes. All of these resources are finite and the more they get used the harder they become to find and extract. All these extra costs have to be passed on to the consumer by the utility companies.

Within this context and partly because fossil fuels are thought to contribute to environmental change, people are keen to find alternatives to traditional energy resources. Solar power has been around for many years and is becoming a viable alternative to fossil fuels for generating power to the home. This article will cover how to run a house on solar power.

You can run a house using the heat energy supplied by the Sun. The most typical application of thermal energy is to heat water. This can be used as hot water to use or heat the home. Solar thermal energy can also heat a swimming pool.

The principle behind this idea is that if you expose a flat metal plate to sunlight it will become hot. If the plate is painted black then more of the heat energy is absorbed. If you put insulation on the underside of the plate then less of the heat is lost back to the environment.

By passing colder water past the hot plate, the heat will be transferred to the water. This would create hot water. Depending on the heat of the hot plate, this water could be used directly in the home or it could be connected to the normal hot water boiler. The solar pre-heated water can then by heated to an adequate temperature for the home. The pre-heating should save on energy used by the normal hot water boiler.

Energy used to heat household water is one of the most expensive items on most utility bills. This could be reduced if a solar water heating system is installed.

We can also utilize sunlight to create electricity. This is a more recent development in solar power technology and is known as photovoltaics. Cells made of a silicon semi-conductor react to photons in sunlight. The reaction causes an electron to be thrown loose. The flow of electrons can be controlled using an electric field. This can create a current of electricity. The more photovoltaic cells that are connected the greater the voltage and current that can be produced.

This is direct current (DC) that can be stored in a battery. It can also be converted to Alternating current with the aid of a power inverter. AC can be used to transport electricity or, more importantly, used to power the home.

The solar panels that you may have seen on the roofs of many a home are a number of PV cells formed together in a series or parallel configuration to optimize the production of electricity. Installing a solar panel in your home has become easier as the energy industries focus more attention on solar power. The cost and installation of solar panels has also come down in recent years

Solar panels have become easier to install as utility companies become more conducive to solar power. Many states have agreements whereby the electricity company must buy electricity from the household at retail price. This can make installation and viability of solar power more acceptable.

Having a hybrid system of grid and solar power means that if the Sun stops shining or there are cloudy days then you can still use the grid for power. This takes a lot of the responsibility for creating power off the home owner.

The final stage in this process is to go off grid. This means you stop using the utility company and take responsibility for your own power generation. This will require more work and you will probably have a combination of systems to cover all eventualities. So your major system might be solar but you also have a wind power generator if the sun stops shining or the weather becomes bad.