Benefits Of Using Low Power Consumption Appliances At Home




In order to preserve the environmental balances, it is ideal to buy and use energy saving appliances. This is a suggestion applicable to petty house hold items as well as major electrical devices like refrigerators, washing machines and air conditioners.

In the case of major appliances energy efficiency can easily be known from the star ratings they depict. But this is not so possible in the case of small type appliances that are closely connected with our daily use.

Most of such small items like a kettle or toaster are manufactured without efficiency rating, but they consume a major portion of the total domestic energy in every home. This is the context for us to examine, how the energy involved internal working system of a kettle is structured in manufacturing process.

A kettle is normally made of metal or plastic body, as is externally visible. This involves a long chain of processes such as extraction of the material from the ground, transportation, manufacturing, and transportation after assembly and the subsequent phases of transportation. A kettle may look quite simple by appearance, but the internal system has a lot more to say.

The internal features include, a heating element, wiring, on/off switch and some strip like devices to allow automatic shut down, when the boiling point reaches a particular level. All these parts are produced from raw materials in different manufacturing units and transported to the assembling units.

After assembly, such products get transported to the retail stores from where the customers buy them. The manufacture and transport of such materials adds up a lot of energy even to produce a single item. In the sales centers, we can see a variety of kettles from different manufacturers, some of which are cheaper while some others are costlier.



Generally people have a trend to buy a low cost product and saves money. This is fraught with risk as the cheap item would have no warranty and they are not always energy-efficient and may not last long unlike an expensive one. The low cost items may be of inferior quality which will render them unserviceable after a short period of use. This would force the user to buy another one.

Not only that he has to spend extra money for this, but everything ends up in a trail of wasted energy, in the form of discarded materials and fuel charges. It is always advisable to select and buy an energy saving appliance of a superior quality which always will have a long period of warranty. For them the initial buying cost may be more and the energy consumption may not show much difference at the beginning.

But in due course, the buyer would gain a lot in the form of reduced electricity bills. The cost of locally made items would be even less as the transport charges are not involved, unlike those produced in distant units. The impact may not be as dramatic as that of installation of a solar panel, but a right approach to acquire a superior quality item will definitely show a significant drop in the energy costs.

This will also help improve the product quality, as the manufacturers will tend to respond to the customers likes and dislikes positively.

4 Ways Little Things You Can Do To Save Energy At Home




Most people are now running after alternative energy sources for their energy requirements. The ever increasing energy price has made them think differently.

One challenge that comes up with the use of alternative energy is the efficiency of usage. In order to become more efficient, you might have to be a little bit creative in your energy usage. The need for some creativity is even more exaggerated if you are using solar energy.

The tips discussed below might come handy for you.

1) Unplug the appliances when not in use.

This is one of the basic things you could do to save energy. Each appliance switched on, will add to the usage and will drain your battery, thereby wasting the energy which can be used later. Unplug all the electrical appliances and check the energy meter, charge controller for any electrical load left. Unplugging also reduces the chance for short circuits during floods or spills.

2) Find alternative ways for heating water.

The energy-heat conversion while heating water is so low that most of the energy is spent for heating the pan and the surrounding air. So it takes a lot of time to get boiling and lot of energy is used up during the process. It is always better to use solar water heating technique.

With the help of some lens or magnifying glass, the water can be boiled in a matter of minutes and that too using far little energy than electrical heating. If you don’t have a solar heater, you can use ordinary wood burning stove provided you have the luxury of firewood in your area.

3) Improve the way you refrigerate.

Refrigerator is one thing you want to be turned on all the time irrespective of the amount of power it requires. Even if you have got the most energy efficient refrigerator available in the market, there are some small tricks you can do to increase the efficiency further.

There is very little you can do, but some small things like using refrigerator mass items can save some energy. Techniques like placing water filled bottles in the fridge or freezer can save you some considerable amount of energy.

Water normally will retain cold better than air, so even if you open the fridge every now and then, the presence of frozen water will maintain the cold temperature in the freezer thereby saving the energy spent for cooling the freezer once again.


4) Use low power equipment.

Some appliances use very little energy as compared to others. Cell phones and cameras come under this category. Appliances like laptops use very little energy as compared to desktops, so you should choose low power appliances to save more energy.

Low energy products can cost a little bit more but the initial investment is still worth spending as you can recover the amount within a few months of usage. Another example for low power product is the LED lights, LEDs have higher lifetime and use 80% less energy than the conventional lights. So it is highly recommended to buy these kinds of low power appliances.

Getting Started With A Homemade Photovoltaic Panel




Due to the ever increasing gas prices, people are looking for cheaper sources of energy. Within the last decade, solar technology has evolved quite a bit and now they are not that expensive at all.

Better, low cost and efficient solar technology is now available. More and more people are turning to solar energy for saving money spent on household electricity. Whenever you think of solar energy, the first thing that comes to your mind is the initial investment and the installation charges.

In fact it is not that difficult to setup a Do-It-Yourself (DIY) solar panel, provided you have the right knowledge and required raw materials. This article will provide you all the information needed to setup a solar panel of your own.

First of all you will have to gather the materials required to build the solar panel and also a box to house everything. You can buy solar cells at cheap rates from eBay. Apart from the photovoltaic (PV) cells, you will also need wires, diodes and a jones plug to wire everything. You can buy diodes from eBay and jones from a local electronics store.

In order to construct the solar panel box you will need lumber, screws and hardware, silicone caulk, paint and plexiglass, all of which you can buy from a hardware store. Some other basic tools will also be required to assemble the PV panel.

A cordless drill might be handy during the process. A soldering iron will be required while assembling. You can also get PV cells at very cheap rates from commercial solar companies. Normally these companies find it hard to store old cells when they replace a system with new ones.

They will be happy to get rid of those older ones that use up their storage space. You can approach some of these companies; it will save you some money for sure. You can also go for used or damaged solar cells. They are hard to find but if you do, it can save you a lot of money.

When you order solar cells, make sure you order a few extra ones in case of some damage during shipping or assembling. Another important thing to look at is that the size of all photovoltaic cell should be the same. Difference in size means difference in the amount of current produced.



Mixing different sizes can affect the efficiency and energy production. Before constructing your own PV panels, you should have a clear cut idea about the amount of power you need and also about the size of your system. One solar cell can produce one half volt and a series of 40 cells will give you over 20 Volts.

Power in Watts is calculated by multiplying the Amps by the Volts. If your cell can produce 3 Amps, then your system will be able to deliver above 60 Watts of power. If you want to increase the Wattage, you can use larger cells. Large solar cells can make the entire system heavier and may use up a lot of space. It is always better to start with a smaller one and then upgrade it when the need arises.