Ah, yes, the summertime! A wonderful time of year for some activities. Nothing could ruin the fun - except maybe the electric bill coming in the mail! It can be so expensive running central air and fans. Is there a way to escape from burdensome electric bills?
In fact, there is a way to escape and it is trendy too - solar! Alternative energy is very big right now and as a homeowner you can get in on the action. In fact, the federal government is giving people a tax credit of 30% of the material and installation costs of a solar system. That is much, much better than a run-of-the-mill tax deduction. The states also have incentives but they can vary widely. In short, now is probably the most economical time the United States has ever seen for installing residential solar systems
Basically, solar powering your home is done by capturing the sun's rays with panels installed on your roof or near your house. The panels convert the sunlight into electricity and then an inverter converts the power from direct current into AC power which is usable by your home appliances.
There are two ways to implement solar power into your home. Off grid and grid-tied. With off grid, your entire home is powered by solar and you do not have a connection to the electrical grid. The power company simply does not exist for you. This is a great way to power your home but it can cost tens of thousands of dollars even with government incentives to install the system all at once. This is difficult for many people to do.
Grid-tied is the more common way for people to power their home. Basically, your house is still connected to electric company but you have solar panels generating electricity as well. The power from the grid is only used if your solar array is not providing enough for your needs at any point in time. Why wouldn't your array provide all of your needs?
It might not provide all of your needs at a given moment because:
1. The sun is not shining
2. You are running many electrical devices at once - which is unusual for your home
3. Your array is only a meant to be a partial solution
If the sun is not shining, your solar panels can't collect sunlight. It might be nighttime, there might be an intense storm or heavy cloud cover. Either way there is no power for you. You can overcome this obstacle by installing batteries with your solar system. The batteries will store excess electricity generated that is not used by your home right away. For instance, if you are on vacation there will likely be surplus energy and the batterie will capture and store it. With batteries, you can still use your solar energy no matter what the sun is doing. The drawback to batteries is that they are an expensive part of the system.
Next, you might be having a giant party with many speakers, stage lights, fans and air conditioners running. With this situation your solar array might be big enough for your day-to-day operations but the excess usage exceeds it capabilities. During these moments, the grid would power your appliances alongside your solar array. Of course, if you have enough batteries, they could kick in and make up the slack.
Finally, the most common reason is that you are building your solar array slowly over time to mitigate paying out large sums of money all at once. For example you might install a system that powers only 20% of your power needs and the other 80% comes from the grid. That is a good arrangement because your power bill will be 20% cheaper moving forward! Plus, you can slowly add onto your system so that it powers 40%, 60% and eventually 100% of your power needs.
As a rough guide, a system capable of 100% powering the average U.S. home would run about $35,000. Keep in mind, however, that this would come with at least $9,000 tax credit (possibly more depending on your state) and you would never have to pay an electric bill again! Plus, you can sell excess power from your solar array back to the electric company. That right - the power company sends you a check! Of course, you have to be grid-tied for this to work.
Obviously, there are many facets to solar power that are beyond this brief article. Hopefully, you have enough information to start thinking about how solar might fit into your life. Maybe you just spend $200 and buy a small solar panel, an inverter, and a marine battery and use this system to charge your laptop. Thats an easy first step toward being energy independent and cutting loose from that ghastly electric bill!
For more information on residential solar power please visit www.AbelOnsite.com.
Article indpendently authored by Eric Parish. The content here in may or may not reflect the views and opinions of Abel Onsite.
No comments:
Post a Comment