Residential Solar Power
System
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A residential solar power system uses the energy of the sun to power
household electrical items. Installing residential
solar panels
will allow you to get rid of (or at least severely reduce) your
electricity bill and you will also be doing your bit for the
environment by not purchasing
energy from providers whose power generation facilities contribute to
the planet's stock of greenhouse gases. |
Whilst the cost involved with installing residential solar power
systems (and the associated payback period) has been prohibitive in
the past, these days solar panels are much more affordable and indeed
better looking.
The cost of making free electricity from
photovoltaic (PV) panels has dropped considerably in
recent years, thanks to financial incentives such as installation
rebates, improved production efficiencies and increased energy
capacity, making them a much more attractive proposition for the
average householder. Modern residential solar power systems are
essentially a plug-and-play technology that having been installed,
require little participation on the part of the homeowner. With so
much attention paid to keeping things green and our energy usage to a
minimum, it makes good sense to install residential solar panels for
our home's energy needs.
Typically installed on the roof, solar panels (also called
photovoltaic panels) convert sunlight directly into DC electricity. An
inverter then converts this DC current to AC electricity for all or
some of your daily energy needs, depending on your home's daily power
consumption. Installing a solar power system in your own home is a
large step and one that involves a lot of forethought. Consideration
should be given to things such as your house's location (is your house
shadowed by a row of large trees or a neighbor's mansion?); the size
of your home (you need 200-250 feet of rooftop
oriented towards the sun's trajectory
for the project to be viable); and the size of rebate on offer for
residential solar power installation (rebates will vary from state to
state).
Systems will usually have a payback period of between 6-12 years - and
will almost certainly have paid for themselves well before their 20-25
year warranties run out. The exact payback period will depend on the
home's electrical usage, the electric rate schedule and the cost of
your system. Systems that are not grid-tied usually have battery
back-up storage. This means that systems that are not connected to the
grid must overproduce during the day and store the energy in a
battery.
Installing your own solar power
can isolate your exposure to rising electricity rates as the portion
of your usage that is generated on site will no longer be subject to
increased in electricity rates.
Installation of solar hot water heating has become the norm in
countries such as Australia, Israel and Greece, where there is an
abundance of solar radiation, and even in Japan and Austria where
there is considerably less. The increased take up of solar power as a
domestic energy source has been aided by the increased global
awareness of
global warming and government
incentives such as rebates for the installation of residential solar
powered systems.
Resources:www.solar-part.blogspot.com
