The sun gives us the gift of life. Without it, the earth would be just another frozen hunk of rock and dirt traveling through space. Humans have harnessed its passive power in various ways to heat and light their homes. It is only in more recent years that it has been used to generate electricity.
Solar energy for the home can be divided into two categories: passive and photovoltaic.
Passive is most often used by placing glass panels over light/heat absorbing panels to gather heat from the suns rays. Designs for solar heat generation can vary from simple heat circulating units that simply augment the regular heating system to complex water heating systems, trombe walls, and systems that involve massive heat sinks. The engineering for these systems can range from an afternoon's work creating a window collector to complex architectural designs that influence the configuration of the entire building.
Solar ovens can be a fun way to prepare a meal. Commercially constructed ovens may be purchased from www.solarcooking.org for about $300.00 each. For the more budget conscious, the same website has an array of plans and kits for do-it-yourselfers.
Photovoltaic energy generation can range from tiny panels that power objects d'art or miniature battery chargers to massive arrays used to create a significant proportion of a city's supply of electricity. In spite of minimal attention for many years, advances have been made in the quality and type of PV collectors that are available for the home user.
There is the classic panel, which needs to be mounted on a stand that will allow it to follow the sun. These panels can also be used to power a variety of small items such as electric fences, drive way lights, or portable caution signs.
A few years ago, some genius came up with the idea of solar shingles. Roofing is applied in the same manner as if one were planning to lay asphalt shingles on the roof. The difference arrives at the last minute when adding the shingles. At this stage, small holes are drilled into the roof to allow wires to be run to the control panels that will run the system.
Another recent innovation is a solar sheet. This is a flexible collector that can be rolled up for easy portability, allowing it to be taken along on picnics, etc.
Special panels and systems have been developed for laptop computers.
For efficient electric generation, your system needs a few things not needed when purchasing power from the " grid". Since PV systems only make electricity when the sun shines, deep cycle batteries are needed to store the collected energy. Also needed are a control panel that regulates the intake of electricity (preventing problems with over-charged batteries or electrical back-flow) and an inverter to convert the electrical energy from direct current to the alternating current that is normally used by house-hold appliances. If you are hooking into an existing electrical system that will purchase your excess energy, you will need meters to monitor your generation/vs. usage. If you plan to use a 10 volt system to run appliances and lights, your home will need to be wired with a heavier gauge of wire than that needed for normal house current.
For safety of animals and small children, the control panels and batteries need to have their own small room or closet.
With our current state of technology, solar electricity requires a reasonable understanding of your operating system, correct wire gauge, an efficient, durable monitoring system, plenty of batteries, and some time spent keeping batteries clean and checking the system.
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