DIY

Convert Home To Solar Power – Do It Yourself

There are lots of affordable choices of how to convert home to solar power as solar power technology can be used for several different things.  DIY is becoming an ever more popular option as it is considerably cheaper.   Solar home electricity options are available to provide energy for home appliances and green water heating can provide hot water options for your laundry and general household water use (showers, cooking, cleaning).  When planning your model solar house you should think about which solar energy choice is most efficient, and cost effective for your position.  When you set it up yourself, you can have it how you want it.

A passive solar house basically uses the natural environment to achieve great savings in energy use.  It uses construction materials and design to store the sun’s heat through the winter for warmth and cut off the heat from the sun during the summer as cooling.  There are several methods that can be used in a solar energy home.   First is indirect gain, involving an attached Trombe wall that gathers heat and spreads it throughout your home using fans.  Secondly direct gain which is radiant heat from the rays of the sun passing straight into your living area and getting absorbed in furniture, flooring etc.  This is normally achieved with south facing windows.  The third way is thermal mass, materials like stone or brick that store and collect heat. Lastly passive cooling, which normally includes overhangs for south-facing windows to cut out the sun through the summer for cooling the house.

Another feature you can build in when you convert home to solar power is the use of solar home electricity.  Solar power is generated when photovoltaic cells are used to collect the rays of the sun and convert it into electricity which can be used for power.  The energy supplied by solar panels has to be changed to DC (household power) by using an inverter.  You can use solar power as an addition to grid electric already being received by the home or, by using a battery storage bank, it is also used as the only electric source for your home.  If the second way way is being used, it is suggested that owners keep a generator which can be used as for backup power.

One of the first things to plan in your system is solar water heating.  You can build a closed loop system, if where you live tends not to have very cold weather which causes freezingis not very likely to have freezing.  These systems use tubes filled with water that are heated directly by the sun.  An open loop system uses a liquid similar to anti-freeze to collect the sun’s heat and then the heated liquid is used to heat water for the house by means of a heat exchanger.

Regardless of which steps you take towards an alternative power system, energy efficiency is the major part of a successful solar home operation.  Energy efficiency minimizes the need for electricity.  If you use extra insulation, more energy efficient windows, lights and appliances than is used by normal builders, you will already be saving your family lots of electricity so therefore money too.  It is very difficult to do this though when converting your existing house into a solar house, therefore make any alterations that you can in the efficiency of your existing system and adapt other solar practices to convert home to solar power.

About the Author

With the way that the economy is today I have had to become the money advice expert for our family and would like to share some ideas that I have found.

For money advice expert tips you can visit the Money Advice Expert.

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