If you are a home owner, one of your biggest expenses will be on the electricity bill. The amount of money you pay is only next to your home bank mortgage!

To reduce energy consumption, many people are turning to renewable energy source such as solar power. Due to the high demand, the home solar industry has become a multi-billion dollar market in the United States.

Before you call a contractor to prep your house for a solar power system, why not make your home more energy efficient.

The device that consumes the most power at home is the air conditioning unit. During hot summer days, it may be running the whole time.

There is a simple way to reduce the electricity used by the air conditioner…make your home more efficient by sealing all the air leaks.

When there are air leaks, cool air is escaping from your living room therefore forcing the air conditioner to work harder and longer. If you can fix the air leaks, your home will stay cooler hence less electricity consumed and saving you money.

How do you find these air leaks?

The traditional way to do so is to close all the windows and doors and turn on the exhaust fan. If you don’t have an exhaust fan, you need to point a portable fan out one window.

The idea is to create a negative pressure in your home which will cause air to seep into the living area through the leaks. The next step is to dip your hand in water and run it through all the window and door sills.

When you feel a cool sensation on your hand, you found a leak!

I know it’s a tedious process. But there is an easier way to check for air leaks. I came across a handheld thermal leak detector on Amazon.com, it is the Black & Decker TLD100.

This device is pretty cool actually. All you need to do is set the device temperature tolerance and then scan the light on the area you want to inspect. The light will change to red for warmer spots and blue for cooler spots to detect air leaks in both warm and cool weather. Simply amazing!

It cost less than $50 and comes with free shipping from Amazon.com.

If you were to take your home electricity bills from last year and compare them to your current bills, you will notice a significant difference. Your home energy expenses are higher this year.

Why is it so?

One of the main reasons is the rising energy cost. The world experienced an energy crisis back in 2008 when crude oil prices reached a height of $150 per barrel. That in effect has caused the utility companies to raise their energy rates.

Will the energy rates be raised again? There is no doubt it will happen, it’s only a matter of time.

In order to dampen the impact of high energy cost, the best way is to reduce your home power consumption. Many home owners are turning to renewable energy source such as solar to achieve that goal.

The fastest way to start using the sun energy at home is with a plug in solar kit. Basically, the kit comes with everything you’ll need to setup a residential solar power system.

When you are sourcing for a solar kit, here’s what you’ll have to look for.

1) Solar panel – The function of the solar panel is to collect the energy from the sun and converts it into Direct Current (DC). This is done through small Photovoltaic (PV) cell in the panel.

2) Charge controller – Solar energy is stored in battery bank made of deep cycle batteries or marine batteries. You can’t connect the solar panel directly to the batteries. It has to go through a charge controller.

The function of the charge controller is to take the power generated by the solar panel, regulate it and use it to charge the batteries. When the batteries are fully charged, the controller will disperse the excess power through a heat element.

3) Power inverter – The power stored in the battery bank is in the form of Direct Current (DC). Since most of our home appliances run on Alternate Current (AC), we’ll need a device to change the DC to AC. That is the function of the power inverter.

Now, all you have to do is tap the AC from the inverter with an ordinary extension power socket and use it to power your electrical appliances.

Plug In Solar Kit At Amazon.com

If you are looking for a plug in solar kit for your home, check out the Sunforce 39126 unit. The kit comes with two 123 Watt polycrystalline solar panels, a 200 Watt power inverter, a 30 Amp digital charge controller, a voltage tester, and a wiring kit with mounting accessories.

All you need to do is purchase a few units of deep cycle batteries, install the solar panel, hook up all the units and you can start enjoying free energy from the sun.

Sunforce 39126 comes with a 25 years guarantee on the solar panels and you can get it with free shipping from Amazon.com.

I bought a copy of John Russel Power4Home in April 2009 because I wanted to do some research on home solar power system. The Power4Home web site keeps popping up everything I do a search query on residential solar power system on the search engine. I decided to purchase a copy and see what it has to offer.

Straight off the bat, John Russel mentioned in his web site you can start generating electricity at home for less than $200. That statement is not entirely correct.

Yes, you can start generating electricity from a solar panel with less than $200. In fact, a DIY solar panel can be made with $150.

To make use of the Direct Current (DC) generated by the solar array, you’ll need other solar components such as DC disconnect, meter gauges, circuit breaker, charge controller, deep cycle batteries, power inverter etc.

These components are not cheap. All in all, you will need at least $1000 to $1500 to make a reasonable size home solar power system. The system will be able to power most of your home electrical appliances and all lighting fixtures.

It may not be suitable to power energy hungry devices such as air conditioner unit or refrigerator. For this type of equipment, you will need to draw power from the grid.

So is Power4Home any good?

People who visited John Russel’s web site may get very excited about the prospect of using solar energy to reduce their home energy consumption. However, the budget to set up a complete residential solar system is way off.

There is a positive side to the manual though. The step by step instructional videos to make a DIY solar panel is pretty good. It is professionally done and was recorded in High Definition (HD).

If you are good with hand tool and like to start your own home solar power project, Power4Home will provide you with the information to help you get started.

If you like to see what Power4Home has to offer, click on the link below.