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.

One modern day luxury that we often take for granted is the ability to have a hot bath or shower at the flick of a water faucet. If you are like me, a hot shower is a great way to relax after a busy day at work. An even better way to relieve stress is to spend a few hours in a hot bath that has a few drops of relaxing essential oil. Of course it was not always this easy and in many parts of the world is seen as a great luxury. It is estimated that the average home spends more money on heating water than any other energy need. In most homes this is done by using grid electricity to power a water heater. The down side to this is that grid electricity is powered by fossil fuels that are linked to causing environmental problems and are ultimately finite. What this means is that in time using this method to heat your water is bad for the planet and bad for your wallet. An alternative to this is to use a solar water heating system. This article will explain some of the important parts and how the system works.

One of the first things to consider when thinking about solar power is to make your home more energy efficient. This means using the energy created to the utmost and getting as much energy from the source as possible. In terms of creating hot water this means insulating your hot water tank so that heat is not lost to the environment. Most tanks have some form of insulation but if your system is old, the insulation might not be the best or may need replacing. You should also look at the one that you use. This may be an old resistive type heater and should be replaced by more modern heaters that can be up to 5 times more efficient at heating water. Heat water pumps are a very efficient way of heating water. These systems can either reduce or eliminate your need for grid powered water heating.

Many people start off with a system that integrates into the existing grid powered system because this provides the least amount of change or disruption to the home. As a person gets more comfortable with the idea of solar power they may move onto total solar powered water heating.

The two types of solar water heating systems are known as flat plate collectors and batch collectors. Flat plate collectors are simply a length of piping that allows liquid to pass through it. The pipes are located on a surface that comes in contact with the sun. So the roof top is often the most suitable place and also is out of the way so the system is unlikely to be damaged. The pipes in the flat plate collector are painted black on the underside to absorb heat. The side facing the sun often have a glass that helps to absorb and distribute the sunlight to the liquid. Batch collectors are a water tank that is insulated to absorb heat. Thus they will be painted black also.

The water that is heated by these two systems can then be plumbed into the conventional heating system. As the water is already heated the conventional system will use less electricity to heat the water. As your use of solar power evolves you will move to using solar panels to provide the electricity to power the hot water heater. At this stage you will be utilizing the full power of the sun to heat water for your home.

Solar power can be applied to many house and garden products. In recent years the cost of these appliances have become very affordable and saved money on energy bills. Learn more about solar powered appliances at http://www.solarpowerappliances.com – The site has features on solar water heating systems and various solar power related articles. Adrian Whittle writes about using solar power and appliances that can utilize renewable energy sources.

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.