Monday, August 24, 2009

Solar Power

By Lance Jensen

So you want to solar power your home for the cheapest way possible. So the first thing you need to do is to learn about solar panels.

The first thing you are probably wondering is if it is possible to buy just one solar panel to power your entire home. This is one of the most common questions asked by people looking into installing their own solar power system. You might even have a list of things in your home that you would like to put on this single solar panel such as an air conditioner, dishwasher, TV, and so on.

Unfortunately the answer is a big fat no. You can not generate enough power with just one solar panel to meet the energy consumption needs of your entire home. I have used solar panels for more than 10 years now and I have watched the technology of solar panels progress over the years. But even with the latest, most advanced solar panel, one solar panel is no where near enough power for your entire house. You will need at least 12 solar panels and 12 deep cycle batteries. If you have a central air conditioner on your roof, then you will need even more solar panels and deep cycle batteries if you want 100% of your power to come from the sun. Keep in mind that your air conditioner is the single biggest obstacle you have to tackle first if you want to run your entire house off of solar power energy.

Most people don't realize that you don't actually run anything off a solar panel. You run things off your battery bank. It is the solar panels that charge the battery bank only. The reason for this configuration is that the voltage spikes or voltage volatility would be to great if you tried to run something directly off a solar panel. One cloud moving between your solar panel and the sun could literary fry your appliances with a voltage spike. You need a steady and even flow of electricity to power things in your home. This is what the battery bank does.

Consider using solar panels to power the things in your home excluding the air conditioner at first. Instead, consider switching your air conditioner over to gas.

Also, if you work during the day, leave your air conditioner off. In this case, your solar panel system that is powering your whole house is generating power and making your meter run backwards as you are selling the energy during the day back to the power company. Then when you get home at night, you buy energy from them when you turn your AC on.

You will be able to lower your energy bill by 70% or more as long as you don't live in too hot a climate where you run your AC all through the night.

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