With solar power, you will no longer have to worry about electricity once you’ve installed the solar power system. Aside from that, you will get clean and renewable energy. When you install a solar power system, you’re able to hit two birds with one stone – you’re able to save the earth and you can save a lot of money in the coming years. The system can last for about twenty years and that’s like a lifetime already. With proper care and maintenance, the system might reach thirty years of service.

In the US, solar power is gaining popularity. Years ago, it would have been impossible to use solar power in homes because it was too expensive. But thanks to modern technology, many homeowners in the US as well as businesses now make use of solar energy. Power bills can surely be reduced thereby saving the environment and the pockets of homeowners or businesspersons.

Some places in the US enjoy a lot of sunlight particularly Los Angeles California. There are so many solar power systems available today and solar panels are just one of them. Despite the many benefits of solar power, have you ever wondered why very few people use it? At this point, experts claim that solar power is still inefficient. To generate more electricity, then larger solar panels are needed which are quite bulky. Just imagine putting a large and ugly panel on your rooftop which can destroy your home’s overall beauty? Ready made solar panels are quite costly that ranges from $35,000 – $250,000 depending on the size.

Scientists are still conducting researches and at present, solar power is said to be more efficient now unlike many years ago. Drastic changes were made thereby improving the solar panel’s price and appearance. With the invention of the photovoltaic cells, solar power was greatly improved. The cells will be placed on steel substrate to capture sunlight and the energy will be stored within the battery. The photovoltaic panels contain n layers of cells thereby increasing its efficiency. These new panels make use of the ‘amorphous silicon thin alloy technology’. Through this technology, the cells are not bulky anymore and highly efficient. With stylish photovoltaic panels, your house or office will still look pleasant eve with the panel on top.

Aside from the cell, photovoltaic shingles were also invented. Basically, the shingles modified solar panels. If you don’t want to use bulky solar panels, this is an excellent choice because of its aesthetic and convenient design. The photovoltaic shingles look like ordinary shingles and are colored black.

The photovoltaic cells and shingles have definitely enhanced the solar power technology. Who knows? Perhaps in the future, experts and scientists can now develop smaller cells, panels, etc. Check out LA and see the solar powered homes there. You can now start calculating your home’s electrical requirements so that you can determine the right size of the power system. Start with a small project and work your way up but if you can afford to pay for ready-made ones, go ahead.

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Lab researchers claimed they have improved the solar efficiency recently. While the improvement may not look convincing to us actually it still means a lot. Professor Martin Green and his colleague Anita Ho-Baillie, two scientists at the University of South Wales in Sydney, Australia are said to led a team of U.S. researchers to victory with a multi-cell combination that is able to convert 43 percent of sunlight into electricity. The previous record was 42.7 percent.

But such panels are not commercially available yet. People are looking for panels with better solar efficiency factor because high efficiency panels will occupy less space on their yards or rooftops. Suniva, Inc., the only U.S. manufacturer of high-power monocrystalline silicon solar cells reported on August 26, 2009 that its ARTisun™ series solar cells are achieving conversion efficiencies of more than 18 percent in production, a record for screen- printed cells in regular full-scale production. Furthermore Suniva plans to steadily raise its commercial cell efficiencies above 20 percent through a series of incremental design and processing innovations.

In 2006, Kyocera,the largest solar module manufacturer in the world claimed its 15×15 centimeter multicrystalline silicon PV cell achieved the world’s highest energy conversion efficiency to date (18.5%). Note that the panels are multicrystalline, different from Sundiva’s monocrystalline panels.

While some people decide to wait until higher efficiency panels are mass produced it seems that purchasing solar panels with the best efficiency available in the market will still give them some benefits because solar cost is going cheaper now by 40%. Add other factors such as the federal and local tax incentives and you will have a very reasonably price to make your own electric solar system.

article posted by the SolarCost Admin

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The cost of solar panels is known to contribute around 50% to the total electric solar system cost. With that said you can make a great saving if the price of the electric solar panels is chopped down by 40% as described by the analysts at the investment bank Piper Jaffray: “For solar shoppers these days, the price is right. Panel prices have fallen about 40 percent since the middle of last year, driven down partly by an increase in the supply of a crucial ingredient for panels”.

Many experts expect panel prices to fall further, though not by another 40 percent.

Manufacturers are already reeling from the price slump. For example, Evergreen Solar, which is based in Massachusetts, recently reported a second-quarter loss that was more than double its loss from a year earlier.

But some manufacturers say that cheaper panels could be a good thing in the long term, spurring enthusiasm among customers and expanding the market.

For solar panels buyers the fall of solar panels cost means they can get the system at a lower price or they can keep the previous budget to buy a larger solar setup. Don’t forget that the Federal and local tax incentives will only make this package looks more attractive.

Further details about the fallen solar cost can be found at the New York Times website. Just click the image above to visit the page.

The SolarCost Admin

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- they produce less power compared to the conventional or regular electric solar panels
- they cost more than conventional solar panels
- to absorb maximum sunlight your roof must be slanted at a certain degree and direction
- ideally the shingles installation should be done during a roof job

If all of those factors don’t bother you we can continue with the advantages:

- although they can’t be perfectly blended in they are more aesthetically pleasing and almost invisible
- they are designed for tough condition and very durable
- even with lower efficiency they are still producing power thus lower your utility bill
- they increase your home value
- they don’t need additional frame or support
- they increase your home value

The big three solar shingles manufacturers:

- Atlantis Energy Systems, Inc.

The manufacturer of Sunslates, a roofing product that must be installed using electrical or certified roofing subs. Each shingle produces about 13 watts of electricity and is designed to withstand rain and wind of up to 80 mph.

- Sun Power

SunPower is the manufacturer of the high-efficiency, building integrated SunTiles. SunTiles are designed all-black and can complement any home design. They are are built to withstand 110 mph wind-driven rain.

- Uni-Solar

Uni-Solar photovoltaic shingles have been awarded the Popular Science Grand Award, “Best of What’s New” and Discover Magazines “Technical Innovation Award” for best innovation.

Generally solar shingles will occupy your roof by twice the size of the conventional model of solar panels due to their lower power generating efficiency.

the SolarCost Admin

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There are some types of solar oven. The first one is parabolic solar cooker. Parabolic solar cooker cook fast at high temperatures. It can cook as well as conventional oven but is difficult to construct due to its curvy shape. Frequently adjustment is needed to allow this concentrator get a full exposure to the sunlight. Because this type of solar oven can reach quite a high temperature you need to put extra caution when operating it. You can see a movie of somebody cooking with this parabolic solar oven here:

The second type is the solar box cooker; the most commonly used ones in many countries. Although a solar box cooker can’t reach high temperature as a standard oven will do it is still hot enough to cook meals over a longer period of time. Bigger box can accommodate multiple cooking pots inside. Because the temperature will never be too hot it is safe to leave the food inside the box cooker all day. The cooker temperature is also suitable to pasteurize milk or drinking water.

A panel cooker combines the box and curved concentrator (parabolic) cooker. Panel cookers are very cheap. You can even make one for yourself by pasting reflective materials onto a corrugated cardboard box. They can be used to cook food and pasteurize milk. To keep the heat inside the cooking pot a high temperature plastic bag is needed to insulate it. The plastic bag should be clipped or sealed and kept from touching the hot cooking pot.

Because solar oven is fueled by sunlight it is extremely important that you use black pots instead of other colored pots. Black color will absorb almost all of the sun’s light and turn it into heat, substantially improving the effectiveness of the cooker. Also, the better a pan conducts heat, the faster the oven will work.

the SolarCost Admin

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There are many types and sizes of portable solar panels. You can find one that serves all of these purposes, from supplying power to the sail boats and marine yachts to powering your radios, recreational vehicles, garage lights, portable televisions, and so on.

Depending on their specification, portable solar panels can also charge batteries, laptop, mobile phones, cameras and other small electronic gadgets.

For tough exposure condition most of the portable panels are designed to withstand the rigor of weather and reinforced but still keeping the lightweight housing design. Portable solar panels for marine purposes should be rustproof, shockproof and waterproof. They shouldn’t prone to fail due to humidity as well.

Here is one example of a semi rigid portable solar panel. This Flexcell Sunboard Solar Panel is 7W, 14W and 27W rated suitable for 12V battery charging. It is shock-resistant, lightweight and unbreakable because it contains no glass.

There is also another type of portable solar panels which are not reinforced at all and designed for light purposes only. They are flexible, ultra lightweight and can be folded into bag for easy transportation. Below is one product offered by EarthTech Products. It is rated 25 watt 12V. I have no idea about its efficiency and performance. I guess reinforced-framed panels should have better performance but I could be wrong.

The company also offers a 300W PowerPack to power your laptop. Since the foldable portable solar panel is rated 25W only the PowerPack will need to be charged for 12 hours. Your laptop shall be connected to this PowerPack through the 120VAC plug. This PowerPack inverts DC to AC voltage and according to the company’s website it can provide power up to 6 hours to a 25W laptop.

There is also flexible solar panel you can wear while riding your bike so you can charge your gadgets on the go ….

the SolarCost Admin

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How Solar Heating Panels Work:

The picture above shows an active system utilizing pump to circulate the fluid inside the thermal tubes. No fluids exchange happened between the tubes and the water tank because it is a closed loop system. To power up the pump we can install electric solar panels so the system can work independently on autopilot.

Types of Thermal Collectors

- Formed Plastic Collector

This is the cheapest type you can buy with low efficiency due to poor insulation. The materials are either Polypropylene, EPDM or PET plastics.

- Flat Plate Thermal Collector

This collector consists of a thin absorbing material such as polymers, copper, aluminum or steel to which a black coating is applied, a grid or coil fluid tubing and covered with an insulated casing that has polycarbonate material or glass on top of it. Heat generated inside the casing is then transferred to the insulated water tank by the circulating fluid  inside the tubing.

- Evacuated Tube Collector

Evacuated tube collector has a set of modular tubes mounted in parallel. These transparent glass tubes contain an absorber tube inside them which functions the same as the absorber plate in flat plate collector. It works better than the flat plate because cylindrical collector can capture the sun radiant energy from many directions.

Evacuated tube thermal collectors are considered to be amongst the most efficient solar heating panels available in the market but the price is also much higher than the others. They work excellent even in cold season because thermal losses can be minimized.

Whether you want to use flat plate thermal collector or evacuated tube collector, make sure they are placed on the surface or roof facing south for maximum sun exposure. Both types have more than 20 years lifespan with almost zero maintenance. Think about it! They work quietly without fuel and mechanical moving parts and need no maintenance. Nothing can beat them!

the SolarCost admin

-green energy for a better life-

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Photovoltaic (PV) Cell

The smallest unit converting sunbeam into electricity is called photovoltaic cell, also known as solar cell. Made of semiconductor materials such as silicon, the photovoltaic cell is designed to generate electricity when its surface is exposed to the sunbeam. The electricity generated depends on the sunbeam intensity and time of exposure, the age of the photovoltaic cell and also the PV material. Most of them are available in the market in a thin of 3” X 3” dimension.

Photovoltaic Modules

Photovoltaic modules, aka solar modules, photovoltaic panels or solar panels are sets of photovoltaic cells wired together in serial connection to produce more electricity. To protect them against harsh weather the cells are covered with a very transparent glass pane. Whilst the cells themselves can take full sun without any problems you need to make sure there is no sealant leakage or cracked glass pane. Water entry is considered as the most common culprit in modules failure. Another common problem found is broken wiring connection between cells.

There are some preferences related to what system you want your solar power generator to be. If you prefer to go off-grid the most commonly used panels are the 12 or 24V with battery banks. You definitely need solar batteries if you choose this option. Note that 12V panel has a nominal output around 17V in full sun and brand new (never been used) condition. This 12V module was previously used to charge a 12V battery. To do so it should have higher output of 12V DC.

On-grid panels use less common voltages. These voltage values are determined by the grid-tied inverter voltage window. In order to function properly a grid-tied inverter has a specified range of voltage input. Any DC input outside the voltage window will not trigger the inverter to work.

Photovoltaic Array

PV modules are ready to supply a certain amount of electricity for your household but when a bigger amount of electricity is needed you will need to interconnect some PV modules together to form a photovoltaic array.

Back to the description above we can now summarize that photovoltaic cell is the smallest energy converter in the system. When we connect them in series they form a PV or solar module and some PV modules interconnected together will form a photovoltaic array.

the SolarCost admin

green energy for better life

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The main substance in most of home  electric solar panels is a semiconductor named ‘silicon’. However you may find other types of semiconductor such as CGIS (copper indium gallium diselenide) and CdTe (cadmium telluride) in the form of thin film.
Also known as ‘photovoltaic panels’, electric solar panels can be found in the form of Crystalline Solar Panels and thin film.

Crystalline Solar Panels

Crystalline Solar Panels  are divided into two groups, monocrystalline and polycrystalline. Monocrystalline panels have a patchwork-like pattern on a large-single silicon crystal. On the other hand polycrystalline panels consist of many tiny silicon crystals in a certain geometric pattern. In term of efficiency monocrystalline panel is superior to polycrystalline panel but the price is more expensive. Generally crystalline solar panels have an efficiency range between 11 to 20 percent. It is still far away from our expectation but they have been the best in the market so far for home-solar electricity application.

Thin Film Solar Panels

Thin film silicon solar panels cost less than crystalline panels but the efficiency is also inferior to the crystalline panels. Due to their low efficiency (around 6 to 10 percent only) they will occupy bigger area to create the same amount of electricity as crystalline solar panels. The only benefit of thin film solar panels is their flexibility.

Solar Roof Shingles

Solar roof shingles – a.k.a. Building Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV) –are another form of the thin film solar panels. They are more expensive than the conventional crystalline solar panels and have inferior efficiency but win some people’s hearts because they can be blended perfectly into the roof and act like roofing shingles. Aesthetically they are the best looking solar panels for home application.
If you are looking for the most efficient electric solar panels, go for monorystalline panels but when aesthetic becomes your first priority you may choose the BIPV panels.

SolarCost.org

supporting green electricity

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There are two types of solar energy panels available:

-    Solar Heating Panels (a.k.a. Solar Thermal Panels)

-    Electric Solar Panels (a.k.a. Photovoltaic Solar Panels)

Solar heating panels use the sun energy to directly heat up water or air. We can heat up the heating elements by converting the sun energy into electricity first but it will be far less efficient compared to heating the elements directly by the sun energy.

If you decide to power your house with sun energy you may consider the following ideas:

-    Purchase both types of the solar energy panels above. Use the solar heating panels to heat up water or air in your house. To reduce the electricity bills use the electric solar panels to create other source of electricity.

-    Wind electricity can be a perfect companion to your electric solar panels. See if you have enough wind in your area. This can be a good additional electricity source especially if your area is cloudy or does not have enough sun.

There are many types and options available for solar energy panels. If you are on tight budget and looking for used solar panels you can find them at lower costs. I myself don’t recommend you to buy the old version of the solar heating panels but buying used electric solar panels is always worth trying. Most of the used photovoltaic solar panels are still in good condition after many years exposed to the full sun. They don’t degrade much and if you are lucky you can get them at a very low price.

Finally, by using green energy such as solar electricity, you are entitled to some good ‘rewards’ like net metering and tax incentives  provided you  meet the criteria set by the government.

Go Green!

-the SolarCost Admin-

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