With energy prices skyrocketing, and energy demands with nowhere to go but up, more and more people are concerned with how to decrease their energy consumption. Electricity has become an essential part of life, from keeping food fresh to powering lifesaving medical equipment. The world today runs on electricity.

However, all this electricity comes at a cost, and that cost is something homeowners are becoming increasingly reluctant to pay. In that spirit, creative homeowners are looking for alternatives to doling out their hard earned cash to a faceless power company. Alternative Energy may offer the solution.

Alternative energy is nothing new. Windmills have been around for thousands of years. Windmills were originally used to grind wheat and other grains. In fact, that is why they are called wind mills. Although this was a technology developed well before the advent of electricity, transforming it for use as a source of electrical power was a logical development. Perhaps it was even inevitable.

The technology of alternative energy sources has come a long way since the first windmills and water wheels of old. As technology developed, so did efficiency. New designs have brought alternative energy into the 21st century, and even made them affordable for the average home owner.

Waterwheels are another ancient technology. They were also used to power millstones in times past. Today we call our version of this technology “hydropower” or “hydro-electric power.” Hydropower harnesses the energy of water currents to turn turbines which generate electricity.

Solar Energy harnesses the power of the Sun. The Sun feeds all of life with it’s energy, so it’s logical that we have developed technologies that can directly tap into the Sun as an electricity producer. Although solar panels may be a new development, things as simple as hanging your clothes on a clothesline to dry is a basic use of solar energy.

There is also the greenhouse effect. Just simply putting plants inside a greenhouse traps the heat of the sun and makes it significantly warmer inside than it is outside, allowing plants to be grown in climates that would otherwise kill the crops. Solar energy is used for a variety of uses. Home heating is an obvious use. Some people use solar energy to heat their water, and others use solar cells to directly create electricity that powers appliances. In fact, solar energy can satisfy all the home energy needs of a homeowner.

Many still see these forms of alternative energy as impractical, but with the advancements being made in their technology, they are becoming increasingly viable and practical as home energy choices. Before simply discarding these green energy options as being impractical, be sure to consider some of the long term impacts of converting.

Alternative energy is not beholden to the supplies and demands of big corporations. There’s no OPEC controlling the price of the sun. It is more ecologically friendly. You don’t need to dig holes that are thousands of feet deep to harness the wind. These alternative energy sources don’t put out noxious gases because there are no substances being burned to produce energy.

Overall, while it may look like a big investment up front to make a few changes to your home and start using some of these alternative energy technologies, it will cost less in the long run. It will cost you less financially, and it will cost all of us less ecologically. In the end, we all would like to leave the world a better place than it was when we arrived, and we can do that by advancing the use of alternative energy.

My Heat Exchanger Cleaning Equipment Site explores some technological developments in tube cleaning equipment that are more ecologically friendly.

Solar panels are devices that convert light into electricity. Solar panels are dropping in price, but they still aren’t dirt cheap, so if you’re switching to solar it’s a great time to also carefully evaluate your electricity use. Call your utility company and get an “energy audit” and follow the recommendations. Most homeowners can cut their use of electricity or gas by anywhere from 5% to 30%. By cutting your power usage to an absolute minimum you can purchase only the solar panel capacity that is required for your home. PV (photovoltaic) solar panels are made from solar cells which are a semiconductor material.

Electricity

The process for creating electricity from sun light is rather complex, but all you need to know is that photons collide with electrons in the semiconductor material and essentially free them up to flow when hooked up to a battery. This flow of electrons is what makes an electrical current.

The average household uses 30kwh of electricity per day. Electrical utility companies are required by law to accommodate “net metering”. This means that you can sell your excess power back to the power company. Thus, if you are out at work on a sunny day, or go on a two-week skiing vacation and aren’t using any electricity, the power being created by the solar panels is going back into the grid to the utility company. In other words every kilowatt-hour of electricity produced by a solar energy system ends up being used to the advantage of the homeowner, either as power to run appliances when the homeowner is there or as a dollar-for-dollar credit provided by the utility company for power that is not being used.

Cost

The most important component of the PV solar panel system will probably be the amount of subsidy you are eligible for. Since some utility companies need to meet goals for the amount of renewable energy they furnish, there are some very attractive rebates offered at times. These can be large rebates indeed, up to 50% of the cost of a system or even higher. This can make a system that would support the average 30 kwh per day home cost roughly $20,000 rather than $40,000! In addition, there is a $2,000 tax credit offered by the federal government. However, this is not always the case. In our local area of Colorado there are several utility companies that service the region. One offers a 50% rebate as described above. Another offers a 66% rebate, and a third offers no rebate at all. So you need to check with your utility company to see what rebates, if any, apply to your location. You should also contact a solar panel contractor who can give you lots of information about system costs, and of course they will probably know the rebates offered in your local area. Typical PV solar panels cost about $4 per watt before installation. Installation is a major expense, however, and in the example cited above with a 50% rebate, final system costs will amount to about $6.50- $7.00 per watt installed.

Batteries

Batteries are required in stand-alone systems to provide energy during night hours. These can be very expensive, but if you have an isolated cabin, an RV, or some other need for power and don’t have access to the public power grid, a solar system with batteries is certainly a solution.

Conclusion

When you consider the costs of a full blown PV solar system which will cut your electric bill down to zero or close to it, you get one other benefit. The value of your property increases with such a system, and your property taxes will not increase because of this added value. In addition to the satisfaction of cutting down your carbon footprint significantly, your system will eventually pay for itself, and your property will be worth more as well. Keep these factors in mind when you calculate your pay-back period.

Walt Ballenberger is web master for http://www.solarpanelsblog.info/wordpress which has tons of information about solar panels of all sorts. Visit also a companion site http://www.solarlightsblog.com/solarlights to learn about solar lighting and associated products.

There are boatloads of dollars just blowing by your house every day; enough money to pay for your home electric bill and even your office. How? Wind generators can change the power of the wind into power you can plug into by means of a DC motor. There are tons of these built all around the world because it’s such an effective way of harnessing energy. You can build your own wind generator to do this for your home for minimal costs, and never worry about electrical bills again.

There are many scientific things to consider when you build your own wind generator to power your home. First of all, you can figure out how much energy you’ll be making with a few simple calculations. First figure out how fast the wind is blowing at about tree height. The wind is faster up there than it is on the ground (where you can feel it) because it runs into fewer things that slow it down. When you know that number, you can cube it and you’ll have the amount of energy you could be producing yourself at any given time.

If this seems like a lot of power, then there’s no reason not to get started as soon as possible. With a couple people working on the project, it should only take a couple weeks, and most of the parts should be found either at a nearby hardware store, or in your own backyard. The tools are also commonplace. With just a good set of instructions for on how to build your own wind generator, you can get started right away. If you keep everything local and recycled, the overall cost may not exceed $100!

If there isn’t much development where you live, you’ll be making even more power because there’ll be plenty of room to not only construct large wind generators, but to make more than one. At the price, there’s no reason not to, and it ensures you’ll never run out of electricity mid-television show. It can also be a good back up in case the day isn’t very breezy or one windmill suddenly needs repairs. Although there’s nothing to worry about if it’s not always windy where you live because the batteries in windmills can also store energy.

Your family will be living easier once you get your own wind generator up and going. A few weeks and you could be free from the high costs of purchased power forever. Plus, once you realize how easy and cost effective it is to build your own wind generator, you’ll want to experiment with all sorts of other natural energy sources, like solar panels. There’s no limit to the free energy that mother nature throws your way, it’s just a matter of getting yourself set up to take advantage.

But I must warn you – a lot of folks jump right in without the right knowledge and guide. A rock solid wind generator takes time to create, and with the right manual with step-by-step demonstrations and illustration plans, you greatly increase your chances of a working wind generator, the first time around. Don’t skip this step, as it is the “make or break” of your wind generator project, and will ultimately determine if you and your family can really enjoy the cost savings.

Learn about how I easily made my own homebuilt wind power system and saved hundreds of dollars every year. Avoid spending thousands of dollars on wind turbine systems

My homebuilt wind power system and guide can be found at MyHomeEnergy.org

Alternative energy solutions are becoming more and more popular these days as people look for ways to help beat the dual threats of global warming and peak oil. Harnessing the potential energy of the sun is now a billion dollar business, and it seems to be the way of the future. Today you will learn the advantages and disadvantages of solar power, including whether you would benefit from installing your own system in your home.

Disadvantages of solar power-

• It requires a lot of land area if it is used on a commercial scale. Thousands of square miles of prime land would need to be used to provide enough energy for all non-transport energy use in the USA alone.

• The expense of this form of alternative energy is still apparent. Solar panels, especially photovoltaic ones, although they have got substantially cheaper over recent years still do cost quite a large sum of money. Economies of scale still mean that it is cheaper for power companies to use gas, oil or nuclear technologies to generate electricity.

•There is an inherent risk in the fact that the efficiency and generation capacity of solar panels relies on how much the sun is shining. The weather is quite hard to predict accurately, and very few people want to play “Russian roulette” with their electricity supply.

Advantages of solar power-

• It is getting cheaper, very rapidly due to an increase in production and new technologies being developed.

• Panels are getting smaller, thinner and more attractive. There are even substances such as solar
paint- paint which contains miniature solar panels.

• You can circumvent some of the extreme expensive of having a system installed in your own house by a pro technician by building and installing one yourself. All you need are the right blueprints/instructions that will show you what components you need to purchase and where to get them from, how to assemble them and then how to install them in your own home in a safe, reliable and easy manner.

In fact, being able to install a system yourself is the biggest advantage of solar power. Despite its disadvantages, many people around the world (myself included) have found that we have been able to slash our carbon footprint and our electricity bill each month by harnessing the power of the sun. What’s even more exciting is the fact that if you cut down on your electricity usage at the same time, you can actually produce more power than you need. That’s right- you can then sell that excess back to your utility company and make them send you checks! Who would’ve guessed that your own home could become a fully-functional power plant.

Click here to learn more about plans for solar energy in your home and how you can harness the sun to make the world a better place. Also, learn how much you will need to spend, what your power bill reductions will be, as well as what the advantages and disadvantages of solar power are.

Jeff Palmer is an economist, but has also worked in the alternative energy industry since its early days, installing and helping to develop mainly solar and wind power generation systems.

Usually when you think of solar hot water, solar panels and a collector tank installed on a roof spring to mind – a traditional solar hot water system.

A solar heat pump is a different way to use renewable energy to heat water – that doesn’t need solar panels! Solar heat pumps can save you a bundle of cash on your hot water bills, as they use approximately one third the energy of an electric water heater.

How does a solar heat pump work?

A solar heat pump is a little like a reverse refrigerator. It transfers the heat in the air outside of the unit to the water stored inside the heater through a heat exchange system. In the case of solar heat pumps, “heat” is a relative term as they will still work in very cold conditions – at least -10 degrees Celsius, so it will still be generating hot water for you during winter nights. How is that possible?

Here’s the basic process:

* External air is drawn into the solar heat pump system via a fan into an evaporator containing a special type of refrigerant, which is stored in piping. The refrigerant used is called R134a, which isn’t a CFC, so it doesn’t negatively affect the earth’s ozone layer.

* R134a has an evaporation or boiling point of -26°C; whereas water has a boiling point of 100°C. So temperatures that feel very cold to us are still more than enough to make the refrigerant “boil”. The air that’s been drawn into the system, which is far warmer than the refrigerant, turns the refrigerant from a liquid into a gas inside the solar heat pump’s piping.

* A compressor then pumps the now gaseous refrigerant through a small valve, which compresses it; and as a result of the process generates a great deal of heat.

* A heat exchanger transfers the heat from the heated refrigerant gas pipes to a tank where water is stored.

* The temperature of the refrigerant has now dropped dramatically as the heat has been drawn away, so it returns to a liquid state and the solar heat pump cycle begins again.

Benefits of a solar heat pump

* Massive savings in hot water related expenses over the long term

* A solar heat pump produces between 3 – 5 times the amount of renewable energy than electricity required to power the unit.

* It’s an environmentally friendly hot water option given the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions through less energy requirements.

* A solar heat pump is effective even in low temperatures. In extreme cold, an electric assist is activated to ensure the water stays at the desired temperature

* No roof space or solar panels needed

* Ease of installation as a solar heat pump uses the same connections as a electric hot water system.

How much does a solar heat pump cost?

The price varies depending upon your needs and location, but you can expect to pay up to a few thousand dollars. However, the cost can be greatly offset as renewable energy rebates provided by many governments may apply. These rebates can be substantial, so talk to a solar heat pump specialist for the best advice on the type of equipment you’ll need and any incentives programs that might be applicable.

Michael Bloch is a consultant for Energy Matters Australia – a green energy equipment company offering a wide range of discounted solar panels, deep cycle batteries, wind turbines and associated accessories for residential, businesses and schools. The Energy Matters site contains a wide range of resources; including a solar system builder tool, renewable energy rebates information and free advice on off grid and grid connect solar and wind power systems.

With energy prices skyrocketing, and energy demands with nowhere to go but up, more and more people are concerned with how to decrease their energy consumption. Electricity has become an essential part of life, from keeping food fresh to powering lifesaving medical equipment. The world today runs on electricity.

However, all this electricity comes at a cost, and that cost is something homeowners are becoming increasingly reluctant to pay. In that spirit, creative homeowners are looking for alternatives to doling out their hard earned cash to a faceless power company. Alternative Energy may offer the solution.

Alternative energy is nothing new. Windmills have been around for thousands of years. Windmills were originally used to grind wheat and other grains. In fact, that is why they are called wind mills. Although this was a technology developed well before the advent of electricity, transforming it for use as a source of electrical power was a logical development. Perhaps it was even inevitable.

The technology of alternative energy sources has come a long way since the first windmills and water wheels of old. As technology developed, so did efficiency. New designs have brought alternative energy into the 21st century, and even made them affordable for the average home owner.

Waterwheels are another ancient technology. They were also used to power millstones in times past. Today we call our version of this technology “hydropower” or “hydro-electric power.” Hydropower harnesses the energy of water currents to turn turbines which generate electricity.

Solar Energy harnesses the power of the Sun. The Sun feeds all of life with it’s energy, so it’s logical that we have developed technologies that can directly tap into the Sun as an electricity producer. Although solar panels may be a new development, things as simple as hanging your clothes on a clothesline to dry is a basic use of solar energy.

There is also the greenhouse effect. Just simply putting plants inside a greenhouse traps the heat of the sun and makes it significantly warmer inside than it is outside, allowing plants to be grown in climates that would otherwise kill the crops. Solar energy is used for a variety of uses. Home heating is an obvious use. Some people use solar energy to heat their water, and others use solar cells to directly create electricity that powers appliances. In fact, solar energy can satisfy all the home energy needs of a homeowner.

Many still see these forms of alternative energy as impractical, but with the advancements being made in their technology, they are becoming increasingly viable and practical as home energy choices. Before simply discarding these green energy options as being impractical, be sure to consider some of the long term impacts of converting.

Alternative energy is not beholden to the supplies and demands of big corporations. There’s no OPEC controlling the price of the sun. It is more ecologically friendly. You don’t need to dig holes that are thousands of feet deep to harness the wind. These alternative energy sources don’t put out noxious gases because there are no substances being burned to produce energy.

Overall, while it may look like a big investment up front to make a few changes to your home and start using some of these alternative energy technologies, it will cost less in the long run. It will cost you less financially, and it will cost all of us less ecologically. In the end, we all would like to leave the world a better place than it was when we arrived, and we can do that by advancing the use of alternative energy.

My Heat Exchanger Cleaning Equipment Site explores some technological developments in tube cleaning equipment that are more ecologically friendly.

The one thing every household must have to generate light is electricity, clearly – unless, of course, you’re the type of person who is more embracing of the simplistic, natural-lighting ways of living. But, assuming you’re thinking differently and acting modernly unlike the Amish and primordial people of old, there’s no doubt you use light bulbs, and have been for years.

What’s needed and proves quite necessary to channel the charge of electricity -and, in the process, cease walking into walls- once nighttime hits are those tiny things called light bulbs, and a good number of them, too. As devices solely designed to produce artificial light from electricity, light bulbs are humans’ current means to do, live and function once the sun dips under on the horizon. Without light bulbs and their electrical transmitting abilities, we would be in a much more darkened and simplistic living position. But, we’re not. We’ve let the light in and have been doing so ever since Thomas Alva Edison provided the first incandescent light bulb.

Progressing Forward, Far From Incandescent Ways of Old

Now, thanks to human inventiveness and scientific advancement there are many different types of light bulbs to choose from. Beyond the incandescent options originally made and provided, people can now choose from halogen, fluorescent, compact fluorescent (CFL), high-intensity discharge, low-pressure sodium and many other types of bulbs and/or lamps. Many people these days, though, typically opt for light bulb options they’re familiar with and have used in their childhood and current households. The most common type of light bulb used, and still holding strong today, are the original incandescents.

But, gaining much more popularity, as of late, are CFL light bulbs or Compact Fluorescent light bulbs. Why, you ask? The reasons are primarily linked to the current conservation and energy issues that are so significant in our day and age.

An Eco-Friendly and Energy-Saving Lighting Craze

That epiphanic cartoon style light bulb has been popping above peoples heads all over the place – an energy-saving notion has been spreading wildly. And whether these individuals are already eco-friendly or are looking to ease their way into a green way of living, they figure the first corrective step would be best initiated in how they use electrical energy.

And it is truly a wise decision, especially when looking to be actively green. The numbers are there to support such a choice too. As it stands, CFL light bulbs are acclaimed for their considerable energy saving abilities.

Using Less Electrical Power & Saving The Atmosphere

CFL light bulbs are about 4 times more efficient than incandescents. Also, in terms of life-spans, incandescents have nothing on CFL light bulbs as CFLs last up to 10 times longer. This means using 1/3 less electricity on average simply through using CFL light bulbs. And in terms of released CO2 emissions, by utilizing the CFL bulbs (and this is just in the case of one CFL bulb) nearly a half ton of CO2 is kept out of the atmosphere. So, figure that if you replace all the incandescent bulbs in your home with CFL light bulbs – and let’s just say you replace 10 incandescents in total – that means you’re actively stopping 5 tons of CO2 emissions from being released into the atmosphere, and subsequently, weakening it.

Learning how to build wind generators was one of our top priorities when we moved off the grid a couple years ago. We already had some solar panels but after building our own home we were pretty short on money to invest in a bigger Renewable energy system.

What kind of options did we have?

· We could buy an expensive wind generator

· We could learn how to build solar panels (which we did later)

· Or learn how to build wind generators

First off we figured we could perhaps buy a wind generator but that option went out the window when we saw the huge price tag of $3200 for the 1000w model we needed.

We did learn how to make solar panels but that was after this project. It cost us a bit more per watt of production power for the solar energy but it did work out well. We decided the wind turbine was the best place to start.

For the same money it takes to produce 100 watts of power with solar panels you can make a 1000 watt home wind power machine. Solar energy is good in that it works well in clear weather when the wind doesn’t blow usually.

So, it turned out that learning how to build wind generators was our best option to start with.

We found some good plans to get started that promised an inexpensive yet good looking turbine.

We had seen some pretty ugly home made wind generators in our travels and we wanted ours to look good. That was very important since it would be up there for all of our visitors to see.

The PVC wind turbine blade design is what convinced us that this was the best route for us to take. The PVC is cut on a bit off center to capture the wind more effectively and work more efficiently, and the colored pipe looked professionally built (and we got it free from a construction site).

That’s another great point to make, most of the parts are available free if you just know where to look for them and that is explained in the plans.

The only real investment we had to make was a DC motor for wind generators. It cost us about $36 but it was shipped directly to us which was nice.

The tower we salvaged from our neighbor, his old TV tower was just sitting there and he let us have it for free.

This was probably the fastest way for us to produce Renewable Energy with the least investment.

And it looks good with PVC pipe blades and a stainless steel body, all shiny and colorful; all of our visitors say it looks like we bought it.

There is little doubt that more people are getting interested in renewable energy sources to provide the energy needs both in their homes and portably. One such system that fits into this category is solar power. This article will cover the pros and cons of using solar power.

Solar thermal and light energy can be used to provide our homes with power. Solar light energy is used in many portable devices. A major advantage of such systems is that they are clean systems. The energy comes from the sun, so there is no need to excavate and process the raw materials to create a usable energy resource.

Using such systems also cuts down on pollution. It does not contribute to the greenhouse gas emissions. It does not pollute the water supply.

Solar power systems can be expected to last a long time. They are tough-wearing and sturdy. They have to be built to last so that owners can recoup their investments. It turns out that solar power systems last much longer than that.

The costs for maintaining a solar power system are very low. Some components of the system may last decades without any maintenance at all. Solar panels are often warranted to maintain 80% of their efficiency for up to 25 years. Other parts will need to be replaced sooner, but if all goes well there should be no maintenance costs at all for the first five years.

A solar power system is neither too dangerous nor too complicated for most people to run. It requires no supervision from the government or any other agency because it poses no risks. The cost of running the systems is also very low.

There are certainly a few negative aspects of using solar power. Before consumers can have any solar power, they have to make a large investment on the equipment and installation. They will make up this investment over the life of the solar power system but this large up front sum can deter many people. There are more grants and incentives being introduced to minimize this deterrent to getting solar energy.

However the biggest issue with solar power is it’s reliability. Ideally you need a location that gets plenty of sun throughout the year. If you get plenty of cloudy days then your supply may be interrupted or decreased. And it doesn’t work at night. There are ways round this, like storing power in batteries or having a back up system however reliability will always be an issue until solar cells can be made more efficient.

To this extent, many governments are not keen on large scale solar energy plants to power towns and cities and see nuclear power as a better option because it is viewed as more reliable (which many people may dispute).

Given that efficiency of solar cells should increase and the costs will come down, it makes a lot of sense to get a solar panel for your home. There should be a fall back system because of the reliability issue. Most people go for a grid tie system whereby they keep grid power and sell their solar power to the utility company, thus getting a discount or cheaper utility bills. This is a stress free way of using solar power.