The Info Treasure Trove

You don’t want to move out of the house before having recouped your investment. Do you have a large enough space on your roof where the solar panels can be installed on that receives at least six hours of direct sun light each day? Solar cells work best in direct sunlight. If most of the south facing roof space is covered by nice large trees a photovoltaic system is not going to produce much electricity. Pitch of your roof. Are you comfortable walking on your roof? Is it too steep for you? When installing a do it yourself solar power system you will be spending some time on the roof installing the solar panels and wiring them together.If the power company has to install more than a half-mile of equipment to get power out to your home, then the cost of solar panel power (or wind or hydro, for that matter) is cheaper straightaway. If it?s less than a half-mile for them to bring the power out to you, however, then it may be worth getting on the grid. Of course, again, after a few years of rate hikes you may wish you?d paid that cost of solar panel system after all.Many solar power systems set up in the 1970’s are still working well today!So now when someone starts rambling on about photovoltaic cells at a party, you can nod sagely and fully understand what they are referring to. Batteries or not?As mentioned, in some systems batteries aren’t required if the type of setup you have installed is what’s known as ‘grid connect’. All this means is that electricity generated by the solar cells isn’t stored in your home and you are still connected to a mains supply. If the electricity generated by the solar/photovoltaic cells is not immediately required by your appliances or surplus electricity is being produced, it’s routed back into the mains supply grid.
Alternative Energy News