Domestic Solar Power

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