Solar Power

Using solar panels to either replace grid power or augment it is becoming more and more of a mainstream option. No longer strictly for the "tree huggers", the ability to cut your energy costs and create a cleaner environment is gaining popularity, especially as the price of the more traditional fuels like oil and natural gas are skyrocketing. Depending on the size of your array and the utility incentives where you live, you might even be able to sell your excess power back to the "grid", thereby reducing your power bill and supplying your neighbors with zero-emission power.

There are a couple of variations on the solar panel theme: solar panels mounted away from your residence, with electrical conduit running from the panel array to your house, and panels mounted directly on your roof. Stand-alone panels can be configured to follow the sun, so you get maximum charge and efficiency from them. If your house does not have a south-facing roofline and you have enough space, this may be a good option.

Many other homeowners, though, choose to install the solar panels directly on the roof. Besides the obvious benefit of providing you with electricity, the solar panels add another layer of insulation to your home, thereby decreasing heating and cooling costs by their mere presence.

A series of solar panels will be installed and hooked together, creating an "array". These panels collect sunlight and convert it to energy. The energy is stored inside your house in special batteries. Because the solar energy is collected as a Direct Current (DC), you'll need an inverter to convert that DC power to Alternating Current (AC), the kind that's used in your home.

From there, a charge controller will monitor the stream of electricity and regulate it as it flows into your home.

Solar systems are available in a vast array of options. You can install a small system to heat your water, or go for a whole-house system that might generate enough on a sunny day to sell back to your utility company.

Photovoltaic (PV) panels come in large units that mount at an angle on your rooftop, to large, flat panels for horizontal roof areas, and even to flexible panels that simply roll on over your current roof surface. There are also plug-in panels that are more expensive to purchase, but require little in the way of set up. You might be looking at a stand-alone system that works completely independent of the power grid-if you have enough room.

But most people go for the "inter-tie" system, where you remain connected to your local power grid, but the system will disconnect from it when the grid goes down in a black out. However, you must have battery back-up for this to work correctly. That collected energy has to be stored somewhere, and for right now, batteries are it.

Many, many utility companies are now offering incentives for people to install residential PV cells. While the cost of a watt of solar-generated energy is still higher than the cost of conventionally-generated watt, it is coming down. And with PV cells you're keeping literally tons of emissions out of our air and water besides generating and using "green" energy.