Homemade Solar Panels

Hey all. As I mentioned in my last post, I’ve recently become very interested in trying to green up my life. I’d love to do it in a way that will take a chunk out of my other expenses, so I’ve been looking at installing solar panels on my house. The problem has been that they’re far too expensive Most of the commercial installers want nearly $20,000 for an 8-panel package. That’s really outside of what my income will allow.

So the purpose of this post is that I think I’ve found a solution. A friend mentioned that it’s possible to build your own solar panal, using relatively cheap materials. He estimated that you could build one for around $100, and that it doesn’t take any special knowledge. I started looking around the web, and I’m getting confident that it’s possible.

The key component, solar cells, are available from a variety of sources online. The ones I’ve found start at around $70. The other parts of the solar panel (wood, paint, wire, etc.) are really cheap, and available from any hardware store. Currently I’m looking for a good instruction manual that will walk me through the process of building and mounting solar panals on my own.

EDIT: The Maine State Government and the Federal Government both offer tax discounts for building renewable energy systems on residential property. I’m going to see if I can find some more information to post here. I’ve also heard that if you produce more energy than you use, the power company will buy the extra from you. That would be great!

Geschreven door admin op 15 Nov - Green Energy

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Changing our World with Solar Panals

Hey all. My name is Mike, this is my first post.

I’d like to talk a bit about green energy. Sustainable energy is defined by Wikipedia as “the provision of energy such that it meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs” When I first that definition, I was really moved. The point of this is really to be able to meet our own needs without screwing up the world for our children. If you’re like me, then your children are more important to you than anything, so that thought really impacted me.

The wonderful world around us provides all kinds of energy that we can use to meet out daily needs– biofuels, ocean thermal energy, tidal and wave energy, hydrogen, and many others. There are only two, however that we can really use in our daily routine- solar panels and wind turbines. When you look around, no matter where you look, you’ll probably discover a source of untapped energy, sun shining on a rooftop or the wind whipping around a tall building.

We only need to tap all of these different sources of energy. That is the goal of green energy- it is the way of the future. Not only will using green energy help sustain the world for our children and grandchildren, but it will also help stabilize our economy and minimize our need to support foreign dictatorships (by purchasing oil from them). When the cost is so minimal- installing residential solar panels or home wind generators, I don’t see how we can pass up the opportunity.

Geschreven door admin op 23 Oct - Green Energy

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