Domestic Solar Power

Earth4Energy – What Is It?

Hi guys, Paul here.  As you’ve probably guessed by now, I’m a big fan of domestic solar power, so when I heard about Earth4Energy, I was naturally pretty excited.  Now, for those of you who haven’t heard of Earth4Energy, it’s a course containing an ebook and some videos that teach you how to build your own DIY solar panels, as well as how to build professional windmills.

Now, granted, you can find free plans for both of these things online, but the key difference here is that the designs provided by Earth4Energy actually provide the same amount of energy generation as commercially available and professionally installed solar panels.  Most of the ones you’ll find online will provide maybe half of that kind of output, if you’re lucky.  Additionally, Earth4Energy also gives you some solid tips on how to save oil, which should help out on the wallet with gas prices as high as they are these days.  If you’re looking for their official site, you can click here to see it.

Earth4Energy claims that you can build either of these alternative energy sources for under $200, which is a mere fraction of the $2000+ price that you are likely to find through professional outfits.  Furthermore, you can build them with readily available materials, and tools that you are likely to have already.   They also claim that they provide detailed and easy to follow instructions, as well as professional diagrams and videos.  Finally, as can be expected of a sustainable energy product, they claim to be environmentally friendly.  Let’s see if they live up to this, shall we?

How Much Does It Cost To Build These Things?

The first claim they make is that you can build either the solar panel or the windmill for under $200.  Considering the price of commercially available solar panels, this is a tremendous discount.  So is it true?  Can you really build either one for that cheap?

Well, in a word, yes.  Building my solar panel cost me about $150, and that includes the cost of a tool that I was missing.  As far as the windmill went, it ended up costing me just under $95.  So all things told, just under $245.  Minus the cost of the tool, it would have been about $215.  The cost is far from prohibitive, especially considering that you pay it once, and it saves you money every month.

Verdict: Earth4Energy delivers on their claims regarding the cost of the project.  At no point during the shopping process did I stop and think to myself “This is starting to get a bit too expensive.”  Excellent start.

Readily Available Materials?

The next claim made is that everything can be built using easily obtainable materials and tools you are likely to have on hand.  Overall I found that statement to be mostly true.  The materials are definitely easily obtainable.  Even people living in fairly remote towns should be able to get their hands on everything needed without much in the way of effort.

As far as tools go, the statement is true if you’re the handy or DIY type, but if you’re like me and you call a pro any time something goes wrong, you may need to buy a thing or two.  I am a far cry from handy, and I had everything on hand except for one tool, so odds are good that you’ll probably have most everything you need.

Verdict: Another claim fully delivered on by Earth4Energy.  Even including my missing tool, getting the stuff together for this project was a breeze.

Let’s Get Down To Work!

OK, so we’ve got our materials together, time to get down to it.  Earth4Energy claims that their instructions are easy to follow and of professional quality, so this should be easy, right?

Surprisingly, yes!  I was pleasantly surprised by how simple it was to follow both the videos and the manual.  I found that for me personally, the videos were more effective and easy to follow than the ebook, but I’ve always been more of a video guy, so nothing shocking there.  Every step of both projects is covered in enough detail to ensure that you get everything right, without overwhelming you with so much detail that you get lost.  As someone who has watched a LOT of how-to videos (and failed at their corresponding projects…) this is easily the best quality I have ever found in a set of instructional videos.

As far as how long it all took, you might be thinking a week or two, right?  Maybe longer?  Nope.  I did it in a weekend, successfully, and this is coming from a guy who has a hard time putting together furniture from Ikea.  As I’m sure you can understand, I was thrilled.  I’m a lot more used to buying things than building them, so for me, this was like climbing Everest.

Verdict: Amazing.  11 out of 10.  6 Stars out of a possible 5.  Earth4Energy helped me harness my inner DIY-er and build something that I previously would have thought was impossible.  Count me as a satisfied customer.

But Will It Save You Money?

After having the system hooked up for just over a month now (finished it a few days before putting up this website), I’ve noticed a decrease in my power consumption.  Between my wife, my kids and I, our power usage is usually around 1050 kWh per month, according to our meter.  Since installing the solar panel and windmill, it’s dropped to roughly 650 kWh.  At this point I’m most likely going to do another solar panel and windmill setup to see if I can reduce it even further.  As it is right now, the savings should pay for the project in 3 months or so, with any further savings as free money in the bank.

Verdict: Cutting your power bill by nearly half for $200 and a weekend’s work seems like a pretty good deal for me.  Overall, I’d say Earth4Energy delivers on its promises.  All of my power savings are going into my new “family cruise fund”, so I’m definitely glad I went through with this.

So Is Earth4Energy Right For You?

That’s a good question.  To that I’d say if you’re the type who actually uses products they buy, and you don’t mind spending a bit of cash up front to save money every month, then yes, it’s probably for you.  Earth4Energy is a great investment overall, a fun weekend project, and an excellent way to save on your power bill.  If you’re looking for any or all of those things, then odds are good that Earth4Energy will make you as happy as it has made me.

One of the biggest questions people have when considering whether or not to get a domestic solar power system for their homes is “Will it save me money?”  If you are currently spending money on an electrical bill, the answer is yes.  Depending on how far you want to go, you can either kill your electrical bill entirely or at the very least, cut it down by quite a bit.

Of course, there is no such thing as a free lunch.  If you want to build and install a domestic solar power array, it costs a bit of time and money.  The upside is that once you get through the initial setup phase, there is very little required of you to maintain the system.

As far as the upfront costs of it all, it’s actually pretty cheap.  Depending on the size of the setup you need, the price will vary, so a good ballpark figure is 1-2 months of your current power bill’s cost.  Storage batteries do cost more, and require a bit more work to get set up, but the amount of money this can save you long-term on electricity costs is substantial enough to warrant it, in my personal opinion.

So is it worth it overall?  Yes, definitely.  The small amount of work and money that you have to put in up front is a worthwhile investment when considering the vast amount of money you can save in the long run.

I’m going to get straight to the most commonly asked domestic solar power question.  Is it a viable option for you?  Is it something that will improve the quality of your life, or is it just some impractical method being used as a ploy to take advantage of the whole green movement?

This is the deal.  Solar power is legit, and it’s starting to make some big waves.  People are buying into the technology like crazy, and even governments are getting on board, offering grants for both businesses and residences that install domestic solar power systems.  This tech has been around for a while, too.  Solar panels themselves have been in use for years and years, and keep getting more popular as their productions costs and prices drop.  Solar water heating has been commonplace for years as well, and it looks like using solar power for electricity is heading in that direction too.

In fact, odds are good that you’ve got some experience with solar technology.  Did you ever have one of those solar powered calculators?  How about this one…  Do you know any campers with a solar powered cell phone charger?  OK, granted, this is all low voltage stuff, and practically any power source would be more than sufficient.  So how does solar energy do in residential and business applications, where constant electrical output is needed?

We know that sunlight is limited to the daytime, and it’s gotta get dark out some time.  So the question is, what happens to your solar power at night?  Possibly more importantly, what happens to your source of electricity if it gets cloudy out?

As with most problems, there is a solution.  If you want to go fully solar, you can make use of storage batteries to fulfill your electricity needs when the sun isn’t out.  Batteries offer you the option to scale up your power reserves to whatever level you need, provided you have space.  The other possibility is that of staying attached to the electrical grid, but relying primarily on domestic solar power when its available.

If you’re truly focused on sustainable technologies, you could supplement your solar electricity with something like windmills or a permanent magnetic generator.  This way, you are not completely reliant on the sun for your power, which is a good thing in the winter.  The last thing you want is to spend the darkest, coldest months of the year with no power.

I’ll be back with more domestic solar power articles in the next little while, so stay tuned.

- Paul