8 Things You Should Know Before You Invest In A Home Solar Power System




How much do you know about home solar power system?

Many home owners like the idea of getting free energy from the sun. The idea of using renewable energy such as solar for residential usage makes a lot of sense. But not all solar systems work the same. Different locality will yield different output.

Engaging a professional solar contractor to install the solar system can be expensive. Be prepared to invest upwards of $40,000.

Does your home really need a solar array? To give you a better understanding on solar power, consider the following 8 things.

1) Sunlight

How much sun light does your home get on a yearly basis?

Go to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory at www.nrel.gov or National Climatic Data Center at www.ncdc.noaa.gov and see how much sunshine your area is getting.

Obviously, a solar system works better if it is installed in an area with generous amount of sun.

2) Snowfall

How much snow does your roof retains?

Particularly, you want to know which side of the roof holds the most amount of snow. You want to place your solar panels on the side of the roof with least amount of snow to avoid being inundated with heavy snow.

Heavy snow on the solar module might damage the glass glazing.

3) Cloud Cover

If your house is located in a cloudy region, you still can use solar energy. The only drawback, the solar energy is generally diffused or spread out.

As a result, you may need a large array to capture more of the sun’s ray.

4) Smog

Do you stay in an area with heavy smog?

Air pollution and smog affect the amount of sunlight you can expect to receive on your solar module. If you do live in an area with heavy air pollution, expect less system output over an extended period of time.

In other words, you won’t be getting the optimum efficiency from the solar system

5) Air Density

The density of the air around your house can also affect the effectiveness of a residential solar system. Generally, you get better solar exposure in the mountains with less air density. When you are nearer to sea level, the air is thicker therefore scattering the sunlight.

Here’s a tip. You can make a quick estimate on how clear your air is by simply observing how blue the sky is on a clear day. Thick air scatters more red light, and so the appearance of the sky is less blue and more white.

6) Surrounding Temperature

A PV system works best with lower surrounding temperature. The semiconductors inside the solar module generate more electricity when it is cool. Therefore, you can get more system output on a cold, clear day than a sunny day.

7) Frequency of Fog Cover

If you’re living in an area that’s foggy and misty in the morning but the mist burns off in the noon, you want to orient your solar panels more westward to optimize the amount of sunlight you can achieve over the course of a day.

This factor is very similar to cloud covers.

8) Wind

How much wind does your house get?

Strong wind can damage the solar array. Since the PV modules are located up on the roof, a strong gasp of wind might blow it away. If your home is getting strong wind on a consistent basis, you may have to invest on stronger and heavier supports for your solar system.

I hope the 8 points above are useful for you.

A residential solar power system has a lot of benefits and more people should use it. Nonetheless, you must know the different factors that might affect the end results, especially when you are about to make a large capital investment.

Home Solar And Wind Power Videos

Do you want to know how you can use solar modules or wind generator to reduce your home energy consumption? If you do, check out the 30 solar and wind power for home videos e-book we’ve compiled. It’s free to download.

==> Click here to download the free e-book now!

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How To Build a Portable Power Pack For $25


Do you need power on the go?

Sometimes when you go out on a camping or fishing trip, you may need to charge your smartphone, 2-way radios, portable GPS tracker or even rechargeable batteries for your tools.

It is quite difficult to find a power outlet out in the wild.

A better alternative is to bring along a portable power unit.

There are portable power units available at Walmart or Amazon but they are quite expensive.

A cheaper alternative is to build one yourself.

Check out the video above.

It’ll show you how to build a portable power pack for just $25.

Easy Steps To Optimize Your HVAC To Save Money




In my last couple of blog posts, I wrote about simple ways we can take to reduce our home monthly electricity bills. The heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning system (HVAC) consume the most amount of power among all the electrical appliances at home.

In this post, I am going to focus on the HVAC and how we can improve upon it.

Setting The Thermostats

How do you set the thermostats of your air-conditioning unit? Most people will set the thermostats at the desired temperature and then leave it be.

If you want to cut your home power consumption, you have to acquire new habits, particularly on how you use the thermostats.

One of the good energy saving habit is to adjust your home’s temperature at different times of the day. You can actually achieve excellent cost savings without any decrease in your standard of living.

I know it is a pain to get up and reset the temperature controller. But trust me, you will see the benefits at the end of the month when you get your utility bill.

The traditional way of setting the temperature for your HVAC is “set and forget”. Conservation calls for setting the temperature at 68 degree Fahrenheit in the winter and 82 degree Fahrenheit in the summer.

Open The Windows

Do you shut off your air conditioner at night? If you do so, your room will likely stay cool enough for you to have a good night sleep. If the temperature is hotter outside than in, try keeping all doors and windows closed.

If your room is hotter than the outside temperature, open the windows to let the cool air in.

If your room is cold, why not use a thicker blanket.

These are simple measures you can take that will save you hundreds of dollar every month.

One other step you can take to reduce your energy bill is by using programmable thermostats. These handy units are not very expensive and it is well worth your investment.

You can install the programmable thermostats yourself or purchase one that is compatible with your existing system.

What are the benefits if you were to use a programmable thermostat at home?

1) You can make daily or weekly programs that will set the temperature in the living area up and down without your attention. If you are a lazy person, this will be your ideal friend.

2) Allow manual override so you can always set your desired temperature.

3) Setting the “occupancy feature” that can tell whether somebody is in the house, otherwise the temperature will stay at a standby level.

A programmable thermostat is a highly recommended tool you should get if you want to reduce your home power bills. The money that you will be saving in the next couple of months will be more than enough to cover the investment cost.

After I wrote this blog post, I decided to do a quick search on Amazon.com to find if they have any programmable thermostats in their inventory.

As it turns out, the top selling unit is the Hunter 44550 Auto Save 7-Day Programmable. To read more about the Hunter unit from Amazon.com, click here.

Home Solar And Wind Power Videos

Do you want to know how you can use solar modules or wind generator to reduce your home energy consumption? If you do, check out the 30 solar and wind power for home videos e-book we’ve compiled. It’s free to download.

==> Click here to download the free e-book now!