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2010
7
Aug
With simple instructions available on how to convert to homemade wind power or DIY solar panels for as little as $200, many people are taking the alternative energy more seriously. When choosing to take on a DIY conversion project the first question most people ask is will one windmill or one large solar panel be enough?
There are too many factors involved here to answer that question for you. But one way to start is to ensure your home is efficient in the first place. In this article we will walk you through some steps that will help you reduce your energy consumption before you start converting your home.
Reducing Your Energy Needs
One often overlooked step in converting a home to green power is reducing your energy needs in the first place. The average home uses inefficient lighting, power hungry appliances, and poor heating/cooling solutions. An important step to reducing your energy needs is to look at the inefficiencies in your current system.
Consider:
- Replacing old incandescent bulbs with fluorescents or led bulbs will cut your power consumption from light in half.
- Replacing old, inefficient, appliances may reduce your energy bills by as much as 30% by itself.
You should also look at your current heating/cooling solutions. For example an electric hot water heater could potentially be replaced by a solar water heater. Maybe that inefficient air conditioner can be replaced with a more efficient heat exchanger.
If you need help choosing more efficient appliances, an excellent resource for this is put out by the Canadian government: http://oee.nrcan.gc.ca/EnerGuide/home.cfm. It’s called Energuide, and it covers everything power consumption of home appliance to energy requirements of large commercial air conditioners.
Spend some time looking through that guide and calculating how much you can reduce your power consumption in different areas of your home. By simply taking a look at everything in your home that consumes energy, you will find ways to reduce your energy needs before you start.
You don’t necessarily have to go all out and spend $10,000 replacing everything – but things as simple as changing your lighting will reduce your energy needs before you start your conversion project.
Click here to see a comprehensive review of green energy options. You can get your free, no obligation report here.
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2010
31
Jul
When beginning a solar energy DIY home conversions project, one question many people have before they start is: What will I need to complete the conversion?
Of course before you start with anything, you should get a good DIY solar guide, and you’ll be walked step by step through the process of setting up your solar energy solution. Aside from that though, let’s cover the basics of what you’ll need to go solar!
There are 7 main components you’ll need when wiring up a solar energy solution for your home. It should be noted here that we’re talking about converting a home, and not just creating portable solar energy solution (in which case you’ll only need 4 components).
Convert Your Home Today:
Before you install your home energy solution, you’ll need the following components. These are listed in the order they will be wired into your solar energy system.
- Solar Panels – In most DIY applications these will be built by you. You order discount photovoltaic cells, and assemble those into 50W, 75W, or 100W Panels.
- Array DC Disconnect – This simple device is basically just a switch. It allows you to cut the DC power from your solar panels should system maintenance be required. If you shop around you’ll likely pay less than $25 for this component.
- Charge Controller – Most home systems will be built with a battery backup. The charge controller ensures that a consistent amount of power is sent to the batteries, and that the batteries don’t discharge at night. Again, if you shop around for this component, it won’t be a large expense.
- Deep Cycle Batteries – To store the power from your solar panels, you will need deep cycle batteries. If you find reconditioned batteries, these can be obtained for fairly cheap. Better yet, you can get old batteries for free and recondition them yourself.
- System Meter – This component is actually optional, but it is suggested so that you have a clear way to see how much power is being fed into your home from the solar panels.
- Converter – Since your solar panels produce DC power, and your home runs on AC power, the converter makes the solar energy usable by your home. A 1500W converter likely won’t cost you more than $50.
- Backup Power – Most systems will also include some sort of backup power. In an off grid application this would generally be a generator. In a city or town, the power grid itself provides the backup.
From there the system gets wired into your home breaker box. At this stage, unless you are qualified, you might consider getting a qualified electrician to install the system. At any rate, you now have an idea of what will be needed to get your home running on solar energy.
If you haven’t done so yet, you should also consider downloading a copy of one of the top guides to teach solar panel DIY. Doing so will ensure you have all of the information you need to get the conversion finished right – the first time!
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2010
1
Apr
President Obama plans to open off-shore drilling on the Atlantic, East Gulf Coast, and Alaska shorelines. The environmentalists, of course, are all upset saying that this will cause all sorts of ecological disasters. However, I’m happy that finally president Obama has done something I agree with.
Technology has come a long way since the drilling ban was put into place. There are better ways to mitigate any spill, however rare they should be.
Obama Oil Drilling Plan: East Coast, Alaska Waters Could Open For Drilling – Huffington Post
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2009
5
Aug
A friend of mine was thinking about putting solar panels on his house. According to articles he’s read and advertisements, the electricity you produce, but don’t use will flow back onto the grid causing your meter to run backward, therefore ‘selling’ electricity back to the utility. That is an intriguing thought. Not only would you be able to save a bunch of money by not buying power from the utility, but you would also be able to run the meter backwards at times and save even more money.
But, would it really work that way? According to this expert article at allexperts.com, you can do just that. Apparently, when you generate more electricity than you use, the power will actually flow backward onto the grid. Power companies that allow this refer to it as net metering.
So, you see dollar signs and you are ready to install solar panels and sell electricity to the power company for a change! Well, you need to check some things out, first. First and foremost, you need to check with your utility and find out, from someone who knows, what their requirements are. You will probably be required to install a device that prevents backflow in case the utility power is off. This is a safety measure to make sure you are not feeding power back onto the grid when a lineman may be repairing a problem.
In any case, check out the article at allexperts.com, if you are getting serious, this is one site I’ve found to get plans from, or search for other plans and articles.
* The author, nor this site, endorses any products presented on this page. The information presented here is for reference only.
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2009
29
May
OPEC today announced that it ‘predicts’ higher oil prices. I almost laughed when I read the crawler at the bottom while watching Good Morning America. I imagine it does since they are a huge factor in steering the price of oil anyway. They are talking of cutting production to drive prices up, so of course they can ‘predict’ higher prices. I think a more appropriate wording should be: OPEC ‘promises’ higher oil prices.
I predict that I will eat lunch with my wife today.
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2009
27
May
For those of you who thought that the high oil prices last year were due to “market conditions”, let me enlighten you. It was big oil’s experiment to see exactly how high they could raise the prices before Americans, and the rest of the world, had enough. They got their answer.
This year, oil prices dropped dramatically with gasoline under $2.00 for the first time in a long time. This was due to market conditions because people slowed way down on their oil consumption, switched to hybrid cars, and began to be very frugal in the trips they took.
Now, in response to that, OPEC is looking to cut production to push the prices back up. They and big oil are not satisfied anymore with $40 – $50 per barrel prices. They think that $80 per barrel is the best price to shoot for. They seem to think that is the best price to keep their profits rolling in while not hurting the consumer… too much.
So, how does it feel to be part of the experiment, my fellow lab rats?
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