Passive Solar Home Plans

With the price of non-renewable, "easy" energy from sources such as coal and oil soaring, the environment suffering from our addiction to these energy sources, and an uncertain future for our planet Earth, it is important that we all start doing our bit to help the world in which we live.

One of the best ways that you can cut down on your power consumption, saving money and the environment, is through the use of a solar home energy system. For this you will need passive solar home plans that will enable you to get the best power saving results, as well as take advantage of the fact that you can sell excess power back to your electricity supplier. In some places, the amount you recieve from the electricity compant is far higher than what you pay them for their electricity .That sounds quite confusing, so I'm going to break it down further.

What exactly is a solar home energy system? And what passive solar home plans do you need to use?

A solar energy system in your own home is essentially a photovoltaic (PV) array/grid that is placed in whatever part of your property recieves the most sunlight (usually the roof) that is then wired up to connect to your electricity supply. When the sun shines, the PV array uses its silicon components to produce electricity. Of course you can still recieve free electricity on a cloudy day- provided there is any light coming through the clouds, some of it can be harnessed and used by the system. Electricity can also be stored in batteries that are integrated into the system so that power is available 24/7. Of course it goes without saying that the sunnier the area you live in, the better.

We've all heard about how expensive solar systems are to purchase and install. You can easily pay $3000 upwards depending on the size, power producing capability and type of system you want to have. However, what you probably haven't heard is that you can build and install your own system yourself, for around $250. All you need are the right passive solar home plans.

You're probably thinking, "that's impossible", or "that can't be safe." You're not quite right there- many people have successfully managed to install a reliable, safe, good looking and cheap solar power system for themselves. There are a large number of plans available for purchase over the internet that will provide you with detailed diagrams and written instructions on how to purchase the components required, assemble them in a safe manner, and install them correctly into your power grid.

Here's all you need to get started with making your own inexpensive but effective solar panels-

* Solar cells. These are relatively cheap and can be purchased from specialist shops, online or in general electronics and hardware stores.

* Plywood. This is extremely cheap to buy and easy to find. Any good hardware department store will sell large sheets for very small sums of money. Some builders may also give it to you for free if you ask nicely.

* Copper wire. Purchase this in bulk from electronics stores (buy by the foot/meter)

* Sheet glass. You can pick this up from glaziers, glass shops, hardware stores or even places like wrecker's yards or building/construction sites.

* An instruction manual/blueprint and diagram kit that will show you how to assemble the components properly, as well as how to install the finished product into your home safely and easily.

The first step is to size up a piece of plywood and align all the solar cells in a uniform fashion, according to what the instruction manual dictates. Next, you need to drill holes in the plywood so that wires can be run out and so that the cells can be linked properly. Next, a backing sheet of plywood is attached to prevent any wiring from sticking out. A frame of more plywood is then attached around the solar panel, so that the glass sheeting that will protect the delicate cells can be attached securely. These steps, including how to install the end product will be covered much more thoroughly in your instruction manual.

So what sort of power savings can you expect?

To be honest, it all depends on which solar home plans you use. My personal favorite is the "Earth4Energy" system by Michael Harvey. After installing one home made solar panel, my power bill shrunk by around 60%. It used to be around $180 a month- the solar grid took it down to about $80 a month. This was without massively changing my power usage habits.

My favorite part about "Earth4Energy" package was the fact that it also included detailed plans for constructing a fully functional wind turbine system in a quiet, shady, but windy corner of my garden. It's not obtrusive or ugly, it only cost me around $200 to construct (the Michael claims that it should have cost around $250, so I felt that I got a good deal) and it has helped me completely eliminate my power bill. Not only that, but I am now able to sell back my excess electricity to my utility company, netting me about $30 extra a month.

So if you want to reduce your power consumption, give something back to the environment, and help improve the planet for future generation's, all on a shoestring budget, I urge you to take a look at Michael Harvey's "Earth4Energy" system.

Click here, for more information on this excellent set of passive solar home plans.

For years solar energy has been talked about as being the "next big thing", more and more people are starting to wake up to the fact that we can power our modern lifestyles cleanly, and with an increasing level of efficiency and inexpensiveness, but harnessing the power of the sun.

However, there has always been one major problem - solar power storage is extremely expensive and inefficient if used on a commercial scale. Why do we even have the problem of storage in the first place? Simple, for around half of our 24 hour day, there's no sunlight! Without being able to store the energy produced during the day, solar power would be useless as we could not have access to electricity at night.

MIT scientists and developers think they may have found the answer to this once baffling problem, and that this solution could provide solar energy with the stimulus it needs to become a widespread method of power generation. For the first time, a technology has been developed that can use the energy from the sun, combined with cheap, abundant and non-toxic materials that can actually split water into Oxygen and Hydrogen, a process which until now had not been possible.

This means that the hydrogen necessary to power fuel cell cars could be made efficiently, cheaply and cleanly by solar. Also, to overcome the issue of safe hydrogen storage, the two products could be combined together when not needed to create water once more. Finally, after years of development, this "major discovery" could lead to the casting off of fossil fuels as the fuel source of choice, and instead solar panels may become the way that most electricity is generated in the future, as well as a source of cheap, abundant hydrogen fuel for powering the transport fleet with absolutely no carbon emissions.