Solar Energy for the Home

Solar energy for the home can be a great way for you to reduce your reliance on the energy companies and oil prices. As well as decreasing your reliance on fossil fuels you will also be lowering your carbon foot print and making your own contribution to global warming smaller.

The only real draw back of using solar energy for the home is that it has a high initial cost to get up and running. There are many state and federal programs that can ease this a bit though, such as grants, tax breaks, and government loans. While the initial investment is high the system will pay for itself eventually by reducing or completely eliminating your current power bill.

Solar energy systems also require very little maintenance because there are no moving parts. A solar panel will usually just continue to put out power until something actually damages it. There is some power loss from the panel as it ages but this is a very small amount.

A large part of the install can be done by yourself if you are handy around the house but you will need a professional for parts of it, like connecting your system to the grid. There may also be certain items that will require a professional depending on the building codes for your local area.

The very basics of the system are the panels, the inverter, the interlock, and the monitoring equipment.

When the sunlight shines on a solar panel then there are electrons freed up in the panel. The electrons start to move and produce direct current electricity. The panel itself is made up of individual solar cells. Each of these cells will produce about a half of a volt, so if you have a 24V panel then there are going to be 48 individual cells in it. The actual current or amperage that the panel is capable of is determined by the size of the solar cells in the panel. The larger the cells then the more current your panel will be capable of producing.

The next components are the inverter and the interlock. The actual operation of an inverter is fairly complex but what it does is fairly simple. It takes the DC power generated from the panels and converts it to AC so that it will be compatible with the appliances and lighting currently used in our houses.

The interlock is basically the switch that ties your system to the grid. This helps determine where your power is coming from at a given time, from the power company or from your solar energy system. It should also contain some safeties that will prevent your system from feeding power back in to the utility companies lines in case of a blackout. Feeding this power back in could be very dangerous for any electricians that are working on those lines during a power outage.

The monitoring equipment of course does just that. It follows the status of your system and some of the more complex units can keep track of how much power you are generating and how much you are using.

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