The Uses of Solar Energy

The earth receives more energy from the sun in one hour than the power requirement of the world for the whole year. Solar energy is free, renewable, clean and sustainable. We know how to harness it and we know where to use it best. Below are the different uses of solar energy.

Grid-Tied Residential Homes

Solar energy can be used hand in hand with your current electricity provider. This is ideal to those who live in places where sunlight does not shine year round, to those who live in areas where electricity is cheap and to those who just want to use solar energy as a backup to their existing source of power. The idea is that if you have 2 sources of power, you can get uninterrupted power supply all the time.

One of the benefits of having a grid-tied solar energy system at home is that you can turn your electric meter backwards. This happens when you produce more energy than you use. The excess power that your system generates is sent out to the grid, which will be used by other households. As a result, your electric meter turns backwards and your electric provider will pay you for the amount of energy your system has produced.

Homeowners can use solar energy in producing electricity to power security lights around the house's perimeter. Since these types of lights consume as much as 5 times more power than the household's daily energy requirement, opting for solar energy system is very reasonable.

Solar power system may not be used to answer the entire power requirement of the household. Sometimes it is used to power particular equipment such as lighting, water pumping, cooking and water heating or other equipments that consume the most amount of energy.

Corporate Buildings

To save on electric bills, many companies and building owners install PV cells on their atria. On large industrial buildings, PV cells can be installed on rooftops. While the initial cash out is expensive, the amount of savings the system produces over the years will pay for itself.

Off-Grid Homes

If you have a cabin house or a farm house located far from the power grids, a solar power system can be your best source of electricity. Also, it is ideal if you need to power stand-alone sensing equipment and remote telemetry. Holiday homes that receive a substantial amount of sunlight can also benefit on this system.

Community halls, schools, clinics and other buildings that are not connected to any grid lines can use PV cells to generate power from the sun.

Signs and Street lights

Lights to brighten our street and street signs consume large amount of energy. This energy is drawn from electric providers that use conventional fossil fuels. To reduce the demand for this type of energy source, signs and street light can be installed with solar power systems that store power during the day and use it to light the streets at night. Many cities have solar panels attached to their street lights to save money and reduce fossil fuel burning.

Other Recreational Application

RVs and marine vehicles require small amount of power which are drawn from its engine. This consumes fuel and emits greenhouse gases. To reduce fuel consumption and greenhouse gases emission, owners prefer charging their batteries with solar panels.

The Surprising Home Improvement That Will Save You a Bundle

If you are considering making home improvements to address your energy use and utility bill, you may be in for a surprise. The biggest energy change is not what most people think.

The Surprising Home Improvement That Will Save You a Bundle

There are a couple reasons for improving the energy efficiency in your home. You may realize we are impacting our environment and want to do your part to stop this. On the other hand, you may be tired of paying ever increasing utility bills. Regardless, you are ready to do something, but need to take a quick break before jumping in.

Most people automatically think the biggest cost associated with energy use in their home is heating it in winter and cooling it in summer. This would certainly seem to make sense from a logical perspective. In the case of energy, however, logical fails the test.

The biggest use of energy in your home is heating your water. This may be surprising at first, but think it through. How many times a day is the shower or bath cranked on? How many times a week is the dishwasher cranked on? Do you have a pool? How about a Jacuzzi? Each of these energy requirements adds up very quickly, particularly hot water for showers and dishwashers. The good news is you can make relatively painless home improvements to address these issues.

There is no denying we all need to take showers each day...at least I hope! To improve your shower energy use, there are a couple of basic steps you can take. First, get a low flow shower head. They cost a few bucks, but restrict the volume of water coming out. The less hot water used, the less your water heater has to crank up. Don't worry, you will not notice a difference. Second, consider going with a solar water heater or a tankless system. Solar works best because there are no energy requirements from your utility, but a tankless water heater has advantages as well because it does not waste energy by firing up over and over during the day when you are not home. Regardless, just make the change.

As to dishwashers, there are two solutions. Again, solar water heaters overcome the problem by heating the water without tapping your utility lines. If you aren't ready for that, get an energy efficient dishwasher. You are looking for a product that has an Energy Star rating. The rating signifies the dishwasher is designed to minimize energy use with a savings of at least 25 percent compared to traditional machines.

Going green is not nearly as painful as most people think. Making small changes, such as how you heat your water, can make a major difference to both the environment and your utility bill.


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