Solar energy technology is an old concept and was developed years ago, it has capability to meet all your energy needs without being dependent on the grid for your power needs. You may be wondering how can you enjoy watching big screen television, using multiple refrigerators or even enjoy cool breeze of air conditioners in those hot months.

All this can be met using solar power to your advantage as the technology has further developed. Getting off the grid has become a reality these days especially for residential or commercial buildings. These days most of the solar panel technology has become quite efficient and affordable that you can easily install it for your homes.

This is also a fact that that the initial investment could be very high as compared to the conventional power. With the rising prices of fuel and utility, solar energy is now the only viable solution to meet your power demands.

Many new buildings constructed these days have the solar panel array on the roof tops which look good as compared to large solar panels in the past. The solar panels these days are not only more efficient but are small in size so that less space is required to install the solar power system. Today you will find Photovoltaic (PV) solar panels more attractive and modern, thanks to the development of technology.

Generating electricity using solar panels is really a new concept, many houses which have solar panels installed are also connected to grid, this ensures drastic cut in their energy bills as they are using mixture of both solar power and conventional power. There are some houses which in fact produce surplus power using PV panels and earn handsome money by selling this power to the utility companies.

Installing solar array is not that costly as most people think, there is subsidy and incentives offered by the federal and local governments to the people who are interested to install the solar panels. There are almost ten federal incentives which you can expect when you install the solar panels. These are in the form of tax credits, corporate and private exemptions and special loans and grants.

In addition you can also get local solar rebate, property tax incentives and much more. In some of the states 70% of the costs are borne making installation much easier for the common home owner.

Solar Panels for Homes

Solar panels or Photovoltaic system convert sunlight into electrical energy, each solar panel contains about a group of 30 to 40 solar cells which are made of silicon or some other material which absorbs sunlight. The material is so efficient in absorbing light that it immediately converts the solar power into electricity.

Each solar panel is a series of solar cells which are connected all together; the entire panel is sealed to save it from the moisture. The part of the solar cell which absorbs the electricity is negative and the bottom is considered to be positive.

When the sunlight is absorbed into silicon cells, electrons are knocked loose and travel from negative to positive layer and the electrical energy is passed through the contacts in the top layer and is routed through the circuit array thus producing power.

The basic objectives of building energy efficient homes are to make living healthy and comfortable for the residents by efficiently utilizing electrical energy, water and other natural resources, reducing waste, pollution and other harmful effects on environment and bringing down energy costs and costs of other resources.

By making suitable alterations to the home that is designed to improve efficiency in utilization of energy, it is possible to either remove or at least reduce the amount of impure air getting into the home due to several weather conditions. The design of the house and the use of proper building materials are the two important aspects that one should focus in order to make the home energy efficient.

In Australia, 90% of the houses are built utilizing bricks and bricks are the common building materials in that country. In view of vigorous campaign all over the world to reduce energy consumption substantially, recent buildings regulations imposed nowadays stipulate that the new homes constructed should be more energy efficient.

Here are a few factors that one should keep in mind so that well considered decisions can be taken while making alterations to the home to make it more energy efficient. While significant portion of the total energy consumption in a home goes to operate equipments for cooling and heating the home, for cooking and lighting comparatively much less energy is needed.

Any expenditure on home improvements aimed at reducing energy consumption on cooling and heating in one’s home is a good investment. However, it may not be possible to reduce the energy consumption on these two items without compromising the comforts inside the home. It is where the passive design of the home will be very useful.

In passive solar home design, windows, walls and floors absorb solar energy in the form of heat in the winter and discard solar heat in the summer in order to enhance the cooling and heating effect naturally. In contrast to active solar heating systems, there is no need to use electrical or mechanical equipments in passive design.

The four prerequisites to designing passive solar homes are orientation, ventilation, insulation and thermal mass.

Orientation

This includes location of windows and the type of glazing. The large glass window on the northern side enables the low sunshine to enter the house in winter and severe sun in summer is obstructed with the help of shading from extended roof or attic.

Ventilation

After the peak summer is over, air is allowed to pass through the house freely. In order to make the cross ventilation effective, either side of the house should have windows or openings without any obstruction. The free passage of air inside makes the rooms cool and pleasant in a natural way.

Insulation

Insulating the walls and roofs and plugging the gaps in windows and doors is very important to prevent heat radiation raising the inside temperature of the house. The efficiency of insulation is evaluated by means of its R-value. However, it does no as such represent the efficiency as a whole. For example, several walls with the same R-value may not function with the same efficiency.

Thermal Mass

Thermal mass is any material used for construction of the house such as wood, concrete, bricks or even floors that absorbs solar energy and heat from the sun during the day and releases that heat at night. With the help of thermal mass concept, the temperatures in the house during summer can be significantly moderated and the energy costs brought down. In comparison with brick walls, the lightweight material has very low thermal mass and in view of this, brick walls are much effective in moderating temperatures in the house even if they have similar R-values.

The choice of materials such as brick slabs has considerable effect on the amount of thermal mass in a house or a building. The first two principles of ‘passive design’, to be precise, orientation and ventilation, need to be considered while building the house and the choice of materials such as brick slabs has considerable effect on the amount of thermal mass in a house or a building.

Use of bricks is among the easiest and cost-effective methods of providing thermal mass in a house. The bricks made from clay are abundant in thermal mass. The brick walls provide proper ventilation, are energy-efficient and keep the rooms cool and comfortable.

According to various research studies, the brick stone homes are energy-efficient and the external portion of the brick walls ensure that major portion of the heat is deflected back to the outside atmosphere. This has the effect of keeping the home cool and comfortable in summer despite fluctuating temperatures outside. The US Department of Energy has declared that thermal mass accumulates heat by converting its temperature. This is done by storing the heat coming out of a warm room or by converting solar radiation directly into heat.

As brick stones have better thermal mass than lightweight building materials, they are very useful in making a home more energy-efficient. In addition, using bricks in construction is easy and economical.

You would be able to save a considerable amount of money if you can reduce the cost of heating your house. You can do this by making sure that all your doors and windows have proper seals and will not allow air to escape or leak in. Here are some tips that will help you seal such leaks and save on your energy bill.

1) Attending to cracks in windows.

If you find that there is space between window frames and windows you should make sure that these spaces are properly sealed. Windows are the major cause for air leaking in or out.

A simple and inexpensive way to seal such spaces between windows and window frames is to use caulking to seal up the spaces. You can make this job easy for you if you use a caulking gun. Make sure you use “weather-stripping sealant” which comes in transparent colors and does not damage the paint or the special finish used for your windows.

2) Putting in storm windows.

You will prevent wasteful loss of energy if you install storm windows. These help you save energy because they act as a buffer, trapping air between it and the proper windows. Thus, storm windows help insulate your house and prevent leakage of air.

You can opt to put in wooden, vinyl or aluminium storm windows. Wooden storm windows will have to be taken down in spring. You will not have to do this if you put in vinyl or aluminium storm windows. These can be always left in place.

3) Installing energy efficient weather-stripping doors.

Though most of the air leakage occurs through improperly sealed windows, some amount of air leakage could also occur through doors. It is necessary to make sure that the weather-stripping doors that you already have in place have proper seals.

If you find that these doors do no more than keep out drafts, you could replace them with doors that offers a better seat. Such doors may have vinyl bulb or padded strip that will effectively stop air from leaking out or getting in. You can also consider installing doors which have strips made of brass or bronze. These metal strips are attached to the door jamb.

When these doors are shut they tightly seal the doorway, preventing any leakage of air.

4) Putting in door sweeps or door bottoms.

To make sure that there is no leakage of air through the threshold, you need to install door bottoms or door sweeps. Weather-stripping the doors will seal the sides and tops of the doors but the bottom where the threshold is will be unprotected and will allow air to leak in or out.

Thresholds are subject to a lot of wear and tear and do not lend themselves to sealing the gap between it and the door bottom. This difficulty can be solved by installing either a door bottom or a door sweep. Door sweeps are usually fixed on the inner side of the door at the bottom and this will prevent air leakage through the bottom of the door. You can also use an adjustable threshold to solve the problem of air leakage.

The four methods described above will help you make sure that you stop or minimize air leakage through windows or doors, and make your home energy efficient.