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Solar energy for home homes is nothing new.  It has just been confined to the background in lieu of rising cost of property ; more moderen more advanced building materials, design and the limitation of resources. 

Since man started building homes, sunlight played a major influence in the design.  In fact, even in the more advanced urban planning methodology of the Ancient Chinese and Greeks, the orientation of the buildings is as much as possible directed at where it could capture the most daylight. 

The ancients might not be as intellectually complex then to use slogans as passive solar and thermal mass but when they build, they were building in compact proportion, employing overhangs, manufacturing insulations and building in manners that direct the airflow in the structure and producing well lit, well ventilated spaces using the relative position of the sun to the orientation of their structures. 

Recently, as the conventional sources of energy became more expensive, householders were once more turning to the sun for energy requirements. 

Since the 1950′s, harnessing the sun’s rays has been developing and today the solar cell technology has achieved very efficient levels that modern ( so-called green house ) designs apply the sun’s power to provide energy for the home. 

While solar energy is free, the device that may convert it to run our appliances isn’t.  To provide solar energy for the home, solar cells called photovoltaic made of semi-conducting materials, are grouped into modules.  These solar panels are mounted on rooftops, yards or open spaces where it can capture the maximum amount of daylight. 

Whenever possible, the panels will be installed facing south to get the maximum out of the daylight but tracking systems are also used to follow the direction of the sun.  The solar panels collect the energy from the sunlight.  The process essentially is that when the panels are exposed to daylight, the electrons are separated form the atoms.  This movement of the electrons creates electricity. 

To store power, pumps are sometimes used – circulating water in the cells.  The water goes into a storage tank where the power is stored, ready for use.  Sometimes, the employment of gravity is used if it’ll just the same store the heated water in to the tank. 

Despite all of the development in solar energy though, the use of this technology isn’t really enough to provide power to the entire house.  The best strategy so far can only fulfill about 80% of a homes power wishes.  The employment of solar energy for the home will still require the utilization of the standard power distribution method. 

Powering the houses by solar means will still, for some time be augmented by a local power distribution agency.  To many, this is a good starting point.  Homeowners that feel that the high value of powering their homes through solar power, is justified compared to the price that is now being paid for conventional electrification technique where horrendous amounts of CO2 are being dumped into the atmosphere just to generate a pathetic quantity of electricity. 

However, due in part to the rising costs of energy, the technology for solar energy has been undergoing rapid phases of development.  Experts are confident that within five years, powering the home through the solar method will be made widely available for people that prefer it as its sole energy source.

Related posts:

1. Home solar panels
2. Homemade solar panels
3. Marine solar panels
4. GE solar panels
5. Solar roof shingles

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 21st, 2009 at 6:50 pm and is filed under Legal Issues. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.