"Help The Planet, Save Money & Brag About It"

I was about to post this in the cost thread, but it got long and so I realised it was fairly off topic compared to the original post. So it has it’s own thread…

I understand and share the concerns regarding not always having enough power. We live in an area that is pretty sunny, but still, we can go for a couple of weeks without seeing a blue sky at certain times during the year. In those times, I cannot see how we would cope without drawing from the grid.

And what about at night? Do you somehow use a storage system, some kind of batteries? 

There is limited space to put panels here. On the roof maybe? Wouldn’t that make things hotter inside? In that case you are limited to the number of panels you can have, and so may never become self sufficient.

Finally, you become self sufficient by having enough for all times of the year-that means you will have excess some time. Can you sell back to the grid? How do you go about that?

Well it is best if you live somewhere with net meetering. Net meetering is basically a state by state law (and in some other non US countries) that requires that the utility company compensate you for any excess electricity that you pump back into the grid.

So this is why the majority of solar systems are grid connected systems, simply because it is cheaper to store your excess electricity with the utility company than in a battery bank. Then at night and on cloudy days, you simply draw from the grid, and because you generated more electricity than you used during the day, your net usage balances out (if everything is sized correctly).

Now if you want to be totally off the grid, then you will have to get a battery bank and store the excess electricity for later use (nights, storms).

If you want to be totally off the grid I woudl recommend a combination system with wind turbines and solar panels (and maybe even hydrogen- *see blog* )

Now the solar panels shouldnt make the house hotter, I mean you probably have a dark colored roof right now that absorbs all of he suns rays, and this is why the attic spaces are usually so hot (in summer). Generally they are mounted off of the roof about 6 to 12 inches anyway.

In fact now that I tink about it, becasue the panels will be hot and they will shade the roof, a breeze will probably flow beneith the panels causing the roof to be a little cooler, hence making the attic space a little cooler (in theory).

They dont have to be mounted on the roof, they can be mounted anywhere, or you can even get the ones that look and act like shingles.

As far as your last question, the key is to first make your home more efficient, then conserve energy where you can, and then and only then look into an alternative energy source.

Check out the home site, I have written tons of tutorials on how to do all of this: http://www.neutralexistence.com

I have a question, have you tried the new solar power charger for iPhone? Is it really effective? I want to get one for my phone that’s why I want an answer to this. We need to save energy and the best way I think to do this is to use solar powered charger.