Homemade Solar Panels - Use Free Renewable Energy To Build Your Own Solar Power System
Author: Yoshiko Choy
As you look up to the sun, as always, you keep wondering how much you could have saved if you could harness all that sun power and channel it into useable form of energy. Then you stop short of the idea of building your own solar panels as you heard how expensive it is to buy a ready made solar panel, and how difficult it is to build on from scratch by yourself. Well, these are far from the truth.
You would be more surprised with the materials required for your solar power project. Metal scissors, sandpaper, motor, tower, an electrical stove, copper leads, copper flashing sheet, silicon caulk, glass, plywood etc as all the common parts you need, all available at your local hardware store at affordable prices.
The total cost of materials for the system range from 150 to 200 dollars. With this initial investment, once assembled and installed, the system will start to power you home appliances, and you will see a reduction to your monthly electricity bills up to about 80 percent.
Your success with the homemade solar panel system hinges on a good instruction manual, a few of which are available online. The good guides include comprehensive clear instructions, design diagrams and directions on what and where to find the required parts. The better ones include step by step videos in their package as well as member forums for you to share your experience or guide new members. And you would think that this is going to be expensive. Think again, as this manual usually cost less than a good meal.
If you are still wondering how to harness the free sunlight for solar power, wonder no more. Build your very own solar panels and start saving on you monthly electricity bills. Check out the good guides as a start.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/diy-articles/homemade-solar-panels-use-free-renewable-energy-to-build-your-own-solar-power-system-2491657.html
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So Visit SolarWindEnergyDIY.com for Your Complete Solar Power Guide Reviews. Also Learn More on How to create Residential Solar Energy and Save 80 percent on Your Electricity Bills.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but by “free sky” you mean that there is no cost to putting carbon emissions back into the sky. The concept at play is risk displacement.
I’ve railed against the fact that when people look at the “cost” of products they buy, they are looking ONLY at the purchase price, not at the cost to the environment or the toll on human life living at risk because of pollution.
This risk displacement is a major feature of our economy. The real long term costs are hidden and passed off to a different community or even a different generation.
In some countries, people work all day for enough to pay for a cot and a bowl of rice in the evening. The goods they make come to the local WalMart or Target, and are sold for less than anything similar made in the US. As long as consumers see the “cost” of the good as purchase price, they are able to ignore the human toll.
It’s the exact same with carbon emissions. As long as no one is paying for the right to “store” carbons and other pollutants in the free and open sky, then that cost is passed off to the future. The emissions may be happening in a factory in Malaysia, but the EFFECTS of those emissions will be felt world wide as the climate changes.
I haven’t read the article, but will when time allows.
As long as the sky is free, renewable energy will never beat fossil fuels. Agree? Disagree?
From a Time Magazine Article.
First, Price the Sky
The most important part of a blueprint to contain climate change is to put a charge on carbon emissions. As long as the sky is free, renewable energy will never beat fossil fuels. But put a price on carbon, and suddenly the alternatives look a lot better. The most feasible way to do this is through a cap-and-trade system that sets ceilings for carbon output and lets companies that come in under the limit sell credits to those that don’t, allowing them to keep polluting—a little. The effect is that overall carbon levels fall, and there is even money to be made by being greener than the next guy. That drives investment and research dollars into renewable energy and efficiency.
http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1730759_1731383,00.html
An extended quote and the link.
Bella’s Fan: Thanks for the site, I didn’t have that one. From their “about” site:
Feet on the Ground, Head in the Stars,
Eyes on the Horizon
It’s on my list now, thanks.
I’ll have to give my ususal answer, to start with. Solar power plants in the southwest can already produce competitively priced power to power the whole country.
This is being implemented in California and Arizona, but I think fits your definitioin of not widely implemented.
Scientific America Solar Grand Plan
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=a-solar-grand-plan
I believe solar thermal plants are better, at the present time, than the concentrating PV power plants that this plan emphasizes. The plan calls for using both, but solar thermal appears to be ready right now. And it is really a simple concept, and rather low tech.
“Solar thermal power plants such as Ausra’s generate electricity by driving steam turbines with sunshine. Ausra’s solar concentrators boil water with focused sunlight, and produce electricity at prices directly competitive with gas- and coal-fired
electric power.”
“Solar is one the most land-efficient sources of clean power we have, using a fraction of the area needed by hydro or wind projects of comparable output. All of America’s needs for electric power – the entire US grid, night and day – can be
generated with Ausra’s current technology using a square parcel of land 92 miles on a side. For comparison, this is less than 1% of America’s deserts, less land than currently in use in the U.S. for coal mines.”
http://blogs.business2.com/greenwombat/
Go here to read about solar thermal projects already underway or proposed in California and Arizona. Scroll down. The articles about alt energy tax credits are worth reading, as they give more info on these solar projects as well.
“In recent months, PG&E has signed deals for more than a gigawatt of electricity — enough to light more than 750,000 homes — with solar power plant developers.”
“The solar thermal industry is in its infancy but utilities like PG&E (PCG), Southern California Edison (EIX) and San Diego Gas & Electric (SRE) have signed several contracts for solar
power plants and negotiations for gigawatts more of solar electricity are ongoing.”
from Green Wombat
Hoover Dam is 2 gigawatts
Medium size nuke plant 2 gigawatts
These are both more expensive to build.
San Francisco could be powered by 1 gigawatt
A large push for solar combined with other renewables would do the trick. Once the grid is clean, all electric vehicles would be completely practical.
They and hybrids could be phased in as the cleaner grid is phased in.
I think it’s too early to count out hydrogen fuel cells. And not all fuel cells require pure hydrogen. They can run on methane or natural gas for instance. They are cleaner than burning the gas. And they are cogeneration, the heat is captured and used. These are available now for power plants. A company called Fuel Cell Technology makes them.
Crazy as it sounds, some cities have found it more economically beneficial to make public transit free. Ridership is much better, and all kinds of other costs are eliminated or reduced as a result.
Traffic congestion, accidents, etc.
“Wild Rose Dairy in Webster Township, WI is home to an innovative renewable energy facility powered by cow manure and other organic waste. The farm is home to 900 dairy cows, and an on-site anaerobic digester creates methane-rich biogas from their waste, which is used to generate 750 kilowatts of electricity per hour—enough to power 600 local homes 24/7.”
Fertilizer is a byproduct of this.
The gas is slightly modified and sent into the natural gas pipelines.
Methane from organic waste, including manure as well as from landfills and sewage treatment plants are all happening, and are good ideas.
Fuel cells would be a cleaner way of using it than burning it.
Making plastics from plants is, I think, a better idea than using biomass for ethanol. It’s been shown to be carbon negative from start to finish to disposal. 100% compostable plastics can be made now. We use 10% of our oil to make plastics and just throw it away. Most of it isn’t even recyclable, never mind biodegradable.
Plastics can be made from non food crops.
(two of the companies in bioplastics)
http://www.metabolix.com/
http://www.cereplast.com/homepage.php
Other large corporations are also exploring bioplastics, including BASF and Dupont. Toyota is using them is cars.
Rail is much more fuel efficient than trucks for long haul freight.
The number one change might be to become a little less materialistic. Our consumerism economy is not sustainable.
http://www.storyofstuff.com/
A short video about consumerism.
Free public transport, freeway tolls, renewable energy, landfill organic waste composting, population growth..
what are the most innovative things that you can think of to reduce our warming emissions? Suggestions that are not already being broadly implemented please:)
For some reason i don’t believe you measured correctly
On the other hand for fun, i would pump the free energy back on the grid and get a paycheck every month.After that you could start a manufacturing company to sell the products that you make “free energy”. Doing anything else with it would be a waste of profits.
Good question!! I can only hope so.
I think that it’s more likely that we’ll move toward renewable energy sources in the next few years. But I think it will be a long time before it’s the primary power source.
I don’t have as much hope for reforming the US health care system. I really don’t understand why more people aren’t upset at how the system works, there’s so much bureaucracy and it favors emergency care over preventative medicine. The US is rated something like 37th in the world in health care!
Do you think that America will ever have free health care and renewable energy as a primary power scource?
Or do you think that the trend will continue until people get into power that don’t come from backgrounds that get money from insurance and oil companies?
Since the free market has not brought us renewable energy is it time for the people to step in?
When did everyone start subscribing to this failed philosophy that the free market will magically fix every problem on its own? What fantasy world are you living in when the CEO’s and CFO’s are lying to their shareholders and scamming the common investors out of billions every year in the Wall Street charades. Anyways this is pointless I just wanted to post my last political question for a while and make a point. The Free Market is failing and your delusional if you think otherwise. Republicans don’t seem to understand the urgency of the situation here, they seem to think Jesus is going to come down and save us all just in the nick of time. Wake up sheeple its all a lie.
Kick them all out and take back our government.
Which manafacturing product takes the most Energy to make?
I seem to have found an Source of continues Free Energy, now what can I do with it? What would you do with an source of Free Green renewable Energy? How would you initiate and start making an living out of this excellent Ultimate resource?