Try your local energy provider. Many of them around the country offer finacial help in the form of grants and rebates.I don’t know of any federal grants out there, but there might be one. Maybe someone else will chime in with one. Good luck going "Green".
We’ve heard CFL or other ways a light bulb can maximize its effeciency with least energy.
We’ve also heard solar panels improving on harnessing sun light.
BUT, are there products that directly harness solar power for the sole purpose of using the power for lighting?
(collect light during day, make light during night)
spam links will be reported.
flourescent materials? sounds fun, but how long do they last?
Hybrid Solar Lighting is one technology that is used for direct solar lighting, it does not store the light but uses fiber optics to distribute the natural sunlight: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQ5MiLqb5VE
Also check out: http://www.sunlight-direct.com/
I was thinking about adding a solar heater to my swimming pool. The panels seem very affordable, but is this something I could install myself with no experience or do i need a professional?
Not hard. This web site provides you a step by step process to build a devise that generates solar and wind energy. Not only will it provide electric for your pool, but can lower your utility bill. The cost to build this generator is under $200.
Can you add a few more details to your question so we can figure out what you want to know?
I was amazed to find out that business people and academics in the field of solar power are leaving Australia to go to places like the US where they receive proper funding and backing.. Given the bountiful sunshine and enterprizing Australian spirit, why has this situation come about and why is it still being put up with?
Yes, the University of New South Wales is the leading institution in the world on solar energy research. The present academic and research funding system in Australia makes it quite difficult to receive adequate funding. It is also worth pointing out that the current government has very strong ties to mining and oil interests that are not keen on seeing solar power developed.
The US is a much bigger market for those who do research. And at least under the Clinton administration, there was a government project to see a million homes powered by solar energy by 2010 (since killed by the Bush administration). California is also putting laws into effect that will require public buildings (at the state and local level) to be green–which includes solar energy for power.
So the question is, why shouldn’t these Aussies go to the States? What are the incentives for keeping them in their home country?
Cheers.
are these two one and the same? or does the panel can not function without the cell and vice versa?
i need to construct a battery charger using solar energy.. which one would i need? is solar panel enough? solar cell? or do i need to have both?
im quite confused. please help me.
^_^
Each cell generates about 0.5 Volts. To get more voltage, the cells are connected in series. To get more current, more cells are added in parallel. A Solar Panel is the result.
I DO NOT mean one that just does water heating! Is there one that does ALL electric for a house? Anyone any idea?!
GABY - Those folks have an interesting idea, but when I last looked, they weren’t up and running yet.
The economy of solar is complex. It depends on things such as tax incentives (some are local), and the procedures for the electric company to buy your excess power.
Your best information would come from a local solar contractor, like this.
http://www.planitsolar.com/
They’re in northern CA. A local shop will know about the local considerations.
There is a home that costs $6000us to build and I want to build one and they run on solar power and I want to find out more about it and the other systems the house uses. I’m tired of paying everything out in utilities and rent to own nothing. We live in north Georgia. The website for these homes is www.leenks.com/link60723.htm I would really appreciate feedback from anyone that has lived off the grid. We are also SCA
Hi, I live in Montana, I and many others are off the grid. Some have feed backup and sell excess to the utilities but many are totally spearate.
The site you mention is great but represents a whole different world and standard of convienance and comfort than most Americans are accustom to.
Yes, you can build a nice hovel or hole in the ground with strawbale insulation and a level of solor power used in the one depicted for $6K (not including land costs) usd if you have the know how, desire and time to do it yourself. But all three of those componants are key.
Understanding the process right from choosing the right piece of ground is knowledge intensive. Ground stability, moisture content, dainage, compaction, sterilization, just to name a few are critical factors in that initial process.
Solar is the same, it is not all just buying some panels and sticking them up there. Solor design, passive, active and storage of produced engery are also knowledge intensive processes. Not that they are difficult to understand but they do take study and understanding or you are left to the designs of others and $$$ associated with them.
Each step of the building process is frought with decissions that will combine to make the project acceptable and livable to the occupant or not.
If you are truly serious about, undertaking an effort to become totaly self reliant, and understand what that means, then take the time to learn about the alternate building and living opportunites, their advantages and disadvantages.
While the website you cite is cute, and the group in the UK that is actually doing these projects is repuatible, the site doesn’t tell the whole story. I know, I went there, I’ve saw some of their projects and other ecological living projects there.
The group is filled with very capable, well informed people, engineers, researchers, tradesmen, etc. that know their craft and have chosen to apply it in this manner.
It can be fun and very rewarding for the right sort, but for many it turns into their worst nightmare. Work toward it, learn study, practice on non critical structures. See the results of your effors and learn before striking out on your self relient adventure.
We love it and have most of the convienances of standard mid level homes in America. I an others built our place but that was after a 17 year career in realestate development. even then, I had a lot to learn.
Our home, buy the way cost over $500K in materials, and site work to achieve what I regard as comfortable off the grid living, but that is my standard. I know places here that do just fine and have under 10K invested.
What type of battery bank would i need to store energy from a solar panel used to power a house, and what would be the cost?
a big one.
You need to answer a few questions:
1. What is your average power usage. You can get that from old electric bills. Typical is 1000 watts.
2. How many hours without sun do you want the batteries to continue to supply power when there is no sun. Obviously you need the nite hours, but how about 2-3 days when it is raining?
Lets try a sample calculation of 24 hours, and 1000 watts. That is 24000 watt hours. A large marine sealed lead acid battery can supply about 1000 watt hours, and costs about US$300. But in this case, you would need 24 of them, a lot of money and storage space and maintenance. Change to 2000 watts and 2 days and it quickly spirals out of control.
One alternative you should investigate is selling power to your power company when you have excess and buying when the sun isn’t shining. Some allow this, and it saves on the battery cost and maintenance.
.
Hi
Has anyone setup a solar panel to generate electricity in India (particularly chennai). I am trying to see alternate energy sources to offset the Power cuts in Chennai, India. Please provide me with pointers.
Thanks
get the solar cells
check power and ground
When you look at the solar cell, make sure you check voltage between the positive side (the back side which is usually grey) and the negative side (which is the black side, with all the lines on it) of each cell. You can simply use a multimeter by placing its leads on the cell itself. This step is crucial, otherwise you’ll connect bad cells in the middle of your link, causing the whole panel not to work.
use conductive pen if needed
You need to make sure that all the tiny little lines in the negative side of the cells are interconnected (a way to gather all the electrons from the surface). This step is not necessary for all cells, only for the ones like in this picture, which don’t have any connection between the lines on the surface. you can use the conductive pen to draw a thin line which connects all of them. Once you do that, you will immediately see the voltage rising for that specific cell.
cell with conductive pen line
here’s an example of a cell with the conductive pen line on it, linking between the tiny conductive leads on the negative side of the solar cell.
linking the cells
This can get a bit tricky, but once you get the hang of it, can be done fast enough. First, some technical notes: In order to get higher voltage, you need to connect two cells in series. This means that the negative part of the first connects to the positive part of the second. As you continue to add more cells in series, you will get a higher voltage from side to side on your solar strip. This is all good, but if your cells are small-ish, they won’t generate much amperage. So even if you have a high voltage, you probably won’t be able to give it any load (probably will hardly light an LED). In order to get higher amperage through the circuit, you need to connect cells in parallel (positive side to positive side, negative side to negative side). When you do this, make sure the positive and negative leads (copper mesh in this case) don’t short themselves out.
I found that the best way to connect between two cells was to use hot glue and some conductive mesh. The mesh is good since it allows light to come through it, and we all love glue guns. So all you need to do is glue the mesh onto the solar cell surface. Its always better to have a longer strip of mesh on the surface, with a big enough shared surface space between the two. Always check with a multimeter that there is connectivity, and that there is voltage coming through. Its a bummer later to try and figure out where the problem is.
silicon coating
I highly recommend applying a silicon coating to your solar array. The cells are so fragile, and the links can easily detach or move out of place. A thin coat of silicon keeps it all in place… and also gives it a very cool effect!