You need to hot water in your home and the boilers that produce the hot water need a lot of electricity/gas/oil that all seem to be increasing in price on a monthly basis. So I am sure you agree that it makes sense to build yourself a home made solar hot water system that will helo reduce the power consumption and in turn your monthly utility bill.

Did you know that a solar water heater installed at home will save your electricity bills by Upto 33% and the installation of the system is very simple? You can easily get the parts and make the solar heater in your home backyard for less than $100.

Let us read further and come across some information that will really assist us in building our own solar hot water system and how this benefits the overall environment and the global warming.

The latest guide Diyhotwater.com has been released that will help you achieve the goal mentioned above. The sun rays emitted from the sun produces a vast amount of energy into the atmosphere. This energy is utilized as power that gives a positive impact on the environmental and will save you hundreds of dollars on your power bill.

The advantage of these DIY plans is that they can be downloaded from their site online and one can start the project in just a few minutes. Solar heaters have been giving productive results in hot and cold climates. The heaters keep the water warm and this eliminates the use of electrical applicances.You will notice the savings from the very first month of the installation of the heaters at your home.

The design and construction of a solar water heater is very simple and only needs few days to complete it. Most of the materials are readily available at any hardware store and you can complete the entire unit for less than $100. This is a one time investment but has long term gains.

The DIY Project has proven technology that covers all the topics in detail. A beginner can easily understand the instructions given in the guide for installing a solar hot water system. This is only the foundation. One can later find lot of other utilities of the solar power that can be used to generate power to other appliances. Solar power has been used for cooking purposes, for running a laptop or used for charging the mobile phones.

So, why not start with a solar heater and start reading the DIY Guide that will surely gave some dollars in your pocket.

Of the approximately 1,000 watts per square meter of sunlight power falling on the surface of the Earth (at the equator), only a small portion can get converted into usable electricity. Part of that loss is because of internal losses. Of the photons that hit a solar panel, only some will knock loose an electron. Of those, only some will travel down the module and into the device before being recaptured.

The latter effect is an issue called carrier lifetime. The longer the electrons wander around loose, the more likely they are to flow out of the module and down wires to an outlet. Most modules can only achieve in the neighborhood of about 10-15% efficiency. But several companies have raised the efficiency of their devices to as high as 20% by extending that carrier lifetime.

By contrast, solar thermal devices use sunlight-heated salt water panels to generate steam that can be turned into electricity. The efficiency is often as high as 30%. But not only are such devices expenses, they are high risk. The high temperature and pressure of the water can do considerable damage if it escapes.

Apart from efficiency considerations, costs remain relatively high.

Most types of solar panel remain fairly expensive. A 30-watt module costs in the neighborhood of $250, while a 195-watt panel will run almost $1000. In order to install a solar panel power system for a modest home will require panels costing somewhere around $10,000-$16,000. Add batteries and other components and the cost is anywhere from double that to triple or more.

Fortunately, as oil and natural gas prices continue to rise, manufacturers have responded. As the market matures for solar technology, research dollars have been spent to come up with new ways of increasing efficiency and lowering costs. Even with the relatively high price of large application panels, the cost is still much lower than it used to be, accounting for inflation.

The cost of PV (photovoltaic) cells has been falling by about 15% per year for the past 10 years. Given that they can easily last 20 years, they can pay back the initial investment, while providing clean power.

And improvements continue. A major European chip maker, ST Microelectronics, now has prototype solar cells that are expected to be considerably cheaper than today’s panels.

Organic compound solar panels are making their way into certain applications like computer keyboards and monitors. Those flexible plastics allow a computer to be folded up or rolled like a magazine. While still expensive, the costs are coming down as the technology matures. A French-Italian company expects to produce an organic cell soon that it estimates will produce electricity at around 20 cents per watt, compared with about $4-$8 per watt for ordinary solar power.

Water heating by solar power has costs that vary, too.

In the 1920s some municipalities used large storage tanks to solar heat and store hot water that was then supplied to homes. As the price of electricity and oil came down, which were used to heat water, they were no longer cost-effective.

But as things progress, those old ideas are becoming new again. Such methods may well soon be competitive again, if current research bears fruit. With the price of oil and electricity from gas and coal-fired plants continuing on the trend of the past 10 years, it would only take a small improvement for new applications to be economic.

Using directed sunlight to warm water goes back thousands of years. Crude mirrors and lenses were used by the ancient Greeks to warm water. In the 1920s some municipalities had functional solar systems that heated water supplied to homes.

Today, those applications have taken on the shine of high technology.

One common form is the use of collector panels, often mounted on a rooftop. Unlike photovoltaic modules, these arrays don’t use layered silicon wafers to generate electricity. Instead, they are more like large, thin, double-paned windows that contain water often mixed with types of salt. The sunlight heats the water by means of the greenhouse effect and the water moves through a series of channels, tubes and pipes into the home or business.

The greenhouse effect, as most people know by now from discussions of global warming, occurs when light enters a transparent medium, but not all the energy is allowed to escape out again. It happens to a high degree with glass because the material allows certain wavelengths of the light spectrum, such as infrared, to enter more efficiently than it lets the energy back out again. So, there’s a net gain in energy on the inside.

Heated water has direct uses, obviously. Whether it’s showering, washing dishes or other purposes, nothing more has to be done to the water other than simply make it available. That’s typically done by storing the heated water in essentially the same way as with ordinary water heaters.

In the ordinary hot water system the water heater storage unit also heats the water. With a solar-powered water heating system there’s no need to, since the water that enters the tank is usually between 95F-150F (35C-66C). The storage tank acts like a big thermos bottle. It’s double-lined and/or made of well-insulated material so the heat doesn’t dissipate much out the walls of the tank.

The temperature range of such systems is fully adequate for bathing, cleaning clothes and other ordinary applications. The only difficulties are ensuring enough sunlight to generate enough heat, and minimal loss of heat through the panels and pipes.

Costs can run to $50,000 or more, though. And local climate conditions may limit the usefulness of the system. But given the local cost of electricity or gas, a home or business solar water heating system may well pay for itself over 10 years. Or you could have a look at building your own solar water heater, you can have a look here.

If you want to learn more about DIY Solar Panels I would highly recommend you check out GreenDIYEnergy.com

Enjoy and Thanks

Gavin

Other scientists built on that work. In fact, while Albert Einstein is most well known for the Theory of Relativity, he received his 1921 Nobel Prize for something quite different. According to the Nobel organization it was ‘for his services to Theoretical Physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect’. His paper on the subject was written in 1905.

The photoelectric effect is essentially similar to what solar power enthusiasts and workers know as the photovoltaic effect, the principle Becquerel first found. When light, in this case from the sun, strikes certain materials it knocks loose electrons from their associated atoms. Those moving electrons create a current that can flow through the material to provide electrical power.

Those materials today are typically some type of doped silicon. ‘Doping’ is another way of saying that other elements are deliberately introduced. In other applications, those impurities would be undesirable. In solar power, they’re essential. Pure silicon has its uses, but it’s not a good conductor of electricity. Adding phosphorus in just the right way, for example, turns them into semiconductors.

Certain specialized applications use gallium-arsenide or other materials, instead of silicon. But because of their relative rarity the cost is much higher. Silicon is a major component of ordinary sand and hence plentiful.

The silicon-phosphorus compound is arranged in layers, then connected to a grid to enhance the flow of electricity. It reduces the resistance losses. Then terminals are installed to allow for the electricity to flow into the home electrical system. The whole assembly is covered with glass to protect it and forms what’s known as a PV (photovoltaic) cell. Those cells are then arrayed into a module. Modules can then be connected together into a complete system.

Those modules comes in various sizes that determine how much electricity they generate. All other things being equal, the larger the area, the more power they can produce. Naturally, the larger panels tend to cost more.

Though the solar energy reaching the surface (at the equator) is about 1,000 watts per square meter, not all of it is usable energy. A square meter is a square whose sides are a little larger than three feet – it’s about 10.7 square feet. Apart from losses due to latitude, atmosphere, dust and other natural factors, the modules themselves only convert with about 10-15% efficiency.

The growth of solar power as a practical energy production method depends heavily on increasing that efficiency and lowering the costs of production. To a degree, that efficiency is bound by certain difficult-to-get-around physical constraints, so most of the research efforts involve attempts to lower the manufacturing costs.

When or if that happens, solar power applications may well become even more commonplace in homes and businesses than they are today.

First, you need to estimate how much electricity you require to run your home. If you plan only to supplement your power needs, that’s fine. Then just calculate the percentage you want to offset.

A glance at your electric bill can make the task easy. Most utility bills will show a chart of month by month usage throughout the year. You can average the total, or use the peak demand. If you plan to go ‘off grid’ – stop using power from the utility company completely – focus on the peak.

Those numbers will allow you to estimate how many and what size PV modules you need. PV is short for photovoltaic, the method almost all solar cells use to convert sunlight into electricity. It’s a matter of simple arithmetic to match the area of your south-facing rooftop section to the number and size of modules needed.

Each module will generate a certain amount of power at a given cost. When connected the right way the modules add up, so finding the total output (and cost) is equally easy. For a modest-sized home, the cost of panels is somewhere around $10,000-$16,000 at current prices. But keep in mind when planning the expense that there are tax rebates and other programs that will help you offset the amount invested.

But the modules have to connect to something. The connectors, clamps, wires and other components add to the total. They vary considerably. And don’t forget to add installation costs. Most homeowners don’t have the skill to build the system themselves.

The sun doesn’t shine all day every day. It’s dark at night, obviously. Rain and heavy cloud cover will reduce the amount of insolation, as it’s called. Other uncontrollable factors reduce the amount of sunlight available. So, almost anyone going ‘off grid’ will want a battery storage system. Those not taking the complete plunge can draw power from the local utility company during those times.

If your system generates more than you need at any given time, some utility companies will enter into an agreement to buy any excess you put into their system. That’s usually done technically by running your meter backwards when you’re supplying the utility company. It normally runs forward as you draw power from their system.

Naturally, they’ll insist on inspecting your system before finalizing any agreement. In fact, most municipalities will require that you have your system inspected and approved even if you go entirely off grid. They need to ensure that it’s implemented in a way that’s safe for local lineman. During power outages they have to assume there’s no power running through the lines. Your system has to be installed in a way that guarantees that.

Between panels, batteries, installation costs and other expenses most modest-sized solar panel systems will cost in the neighborhood of $32,000-$50,000. Some less, some more. That cost should be offset against what you would pay for electricity from the power company over the lifetime of the system, usually about 20 years without substantial replacements.

But costs are coming down and efficiency is improving as time goes on, as the price of electricity continues to rise. It may well be worth your while to have a solar powered electrical system for your home.

In the mean time please visit my main site http://www.solar-power-4u.com

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