Energy from the Sun - Solar Panels

There are two main types of solar panel. One generates electricity and will help offset your electrical bill. The other type is used to heat water. If you have a gas water heater using solar panels to heat water will help lower your gas bill. There is a third type that can possibly help with space heating that is used to heat air, which can heat your house.

One thing that is very important about solar panels of any kind is that they only work well if they receive full sun during the day. If they are shaded by trees or do not point towards the sun they will not produce any useful energy. So the first thing you should consider is if you have good sunny places to put the panels on your house.

The most economical type of panel with the quickest pay back is the hot water panel. One great advantage to hot water solar panels is that they can offset the cost of gas or electric water heating all year long.

The air heating solar panels are not quite as good because in the winter when you really need the heat there is less sun so the panels cannot produce much heat. In the summer in many places you do not want the heat they can produce.

The electric type panels are also very good because they produce electricity all year long, much more in the summer of course, but with "net metering" you pay for the amount of electricity you use over the course of the entire year. You will use quite a bit in the winter when it is dark and the panels produce less, but in the summer solar electric panels can produce more electricity than you use and so can offset that extra winter use.

A good place to look for a local solar pro is the second site below. The Find Solar site is maintained by a couple of national solar societies and the Department of Energy.

If you are really interested in becoming informed about solar power and generating your own energy the Home Power magazine (third website below) is an excellent source for information and articles. You can subscribe on line and get the magazine as a PDF file or you can have a regular subscription and have it snail-mailed to you. Larger book stores may also carry it.

Source(s):

http://home.altenergystore.com/

http://findsolar.com/

http://homepower.com/