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Cost Of Solar Energy
Author: parry
If you want to make your own solar power to capture the energy for heating its easy to do if you can find a solar collector, which is anything that attracts the heat from the sun in a concentrated amount, such as glass or clear plastic. Getting into your car that has sat out in the hot sun all day long can be extremely hot and you have to roll down your windows to cool it off inside. That is because the glass has attracted the sun and the objects in your car, including your seats, have trapped the heat not allowing it to escape. When you roll your windows down you are allowing the heat to escape causing your car to cool down. The same thing is true about greenhouses. The glass or clear plastic can attract the sun and not allow it to escape causing the greenhouse to maintain the heat for the plants to grow effectively.
In order to heat your home using solar energy, you need to know the information on a passive and an active home. These two types of solar homes offer the homeowner options to choose from and your cost of heating may be down. Solar energy does not only heat your home but it also heats your water and if you use solar energy lights it can light your home at night.
Passive homes do not use any equipment to heat the home. Passive homes use windows that are made to allow the maximum amount of sunlight into your home. The sunlight is controlled by keeping the doors closed in the hottest part of the day not allowing any heat to escape. At night thick curtains may be used on these windows so that the warmth stays inside during the night. This allows the sun to naturally heat your home without any help.
Active homes do use equipment to help circulate the heat in the home. Some of the equipment that may be used includes pumps, blowers and an alternative heating source in case the sunlight was not enough during the daytime. In order to heat the home with sunlight these homes use special boxes on the outside that attract the sunrays to it. They are made from a dark colored metal to help attract the sun more. The water or air that is carried in the pipes and ductwork is heated by this glass box that has captured the sunlight. Then the heated water or air is then carried to the rest of the home.
In the long run, solar energy helps to heat the home naturally and without depending on a company to supply it for you. Solar energy can be found anywhere the sun is.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/science-articles/cost-of-solar-energy-1893816.html
About the Author
www.globalwarming-prevention.com
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What is your prediction on the material cost of solar energy in the next 5 years?
Is solar energy worth it due to the cost of solar panels?
Is the energy required to manufacture solar panels significant enough to affect the cost-effectiveness of solar energy?
what is the cost of solar energy compared to natural gas?
i heard solar energy was about 1/4th of a dollar while natural gas was only 1/10th. can someone fill me in on this? (:
How much does solar energy cost per watt?
This is for a science project and i’m comparing wind energy to solar energy. wind energy only costs $1/watt and $0.03-$0.05/kWh in average windspeeds of 6m/s
How Much Does Solar Energy cost in The UK?
How much does solar energy cost, using pounds, in the Uk? How much does it cost to set up and does it cause a lot of hassle?
Peter J I know its expensive, I want an actual figure!
No best answer!
The energy costs nothing. The equipment required to make it go, is really expensive. The equipment required to make it practical is obscenely expensive.
well your estimate for wind turbines is a little low in practical applications.
the 1 billion dollar 500 megawatt wind farm being built in Washington Iowa hopes to have a production cost of .093 per kwh.
here are some production costs for various types of plants.
costs are given as cents per kwh.
nuclear= 7.5 kwh
super critical pulverized coal=6.5 per kwh.
integrated gasification combined cycle coal(clean coal) =7.2 kwh
same IGCC plant with carbon capture=7.9 to 9.3 kwh
bio mass burning plants=7.5 to 8.8 kwh
solar thermal plants= 17.9 kwh
silicon photovoltaic plants=33.5 to 39.4 cents per kwh
thin film photovoltaic plants=24.6 to 31.5 cents per kwh.
BTW the biomass plants currently in operation burn agricultural & industrial wastes ranging from saw dust to turkey manure
These are NOT comparable because they work differently. Natural gas used in home heating, hot water, stoves, dryers use gas as a DIRECT conversion of energy.
Solar- active thermal, is where panels collect the heat and exchange it in a storage tank to preheat hot water for heating and hot water.
Solar- passive, is where the sunlight comes into a space and heats it during the day
Solar- electric is where there are 2 conversions of energy. One is changing the sunlight into electricity; then storing this electricity and converting into alternating current to be used for your household.
Solar-Thermal- Large scale. There are several major installations of solar-thermal-electric, and solar- electric the produce enough electricity to feed into the national grid. The problem with all solar projects is they shut down at night! Gas is available 24/7.
The efficiency of the solar —> electric in watts/hr is about 23%. A regular toaster requires 1800 watts to run, so you would need to have enough square foot coverage just to use your toaster.
No matter where you are getting your electricity something has to be manufactured to create it. It isn’t as if we have enough plants currently to satisfy demand. By building and installing solar we can reduce the number of coal or natural gas burning plants that need to be built to supply our growing demand. There is a lot of evidence that the large grid system that we have leaves us more vulnerable to disruption due to attack or natural disaster.
From a personal point of view, it is more cost effective to produce my own electricity using solar panels. I will break even on my system in about 6 years, my system is guaranteed for 25, so I’ll be getting free electricity for 19 years, plus I won’t be affected by the rising cost of energy.
Current CdTe modules have 10 percent efficiency and an installed system cost of about $4 per watt. My guess is this can be cut in half in 5 years.
Here is a very good article “A Solar Grand Plan” – explains that government subsidy is likely required if the US is to become energy self sufficient by 2050.