Residential Solar Power EXPOSED

To be honest about it, residential solar power is nothing new. What is new however is the novel way that the solar power is harnessed for residential use? Gone are the days when a cloudy day brought a cloudy home. Today solar power can be accumulated within storage devices, to be utilized when it becomes unavailable due to climatic conditions.

Think of your car’s headlights. They can jolly well light up at the flick of a switch even when the car’s engine is not running and the alternators are not generating electricity. The picture is no different with the modern day solar powered homes either. What is more, one can just as well sell surplus solar power to the local power grid whenever one thinks so. So in this way not only can you save the electricity bill (as solar power is very cheap to operate), but you can also earn that extra cash as well. And the best part of the story is that, it is absolutely free and available all the while as long as the sun is not replaced by any other less radiant celestial body.

The utilities of residential solar power

Coming down to the brass tacks, residential solar power may be utilized in two principal ways – (a) heating swimming pools by a simple heat transfer system and (b) using photovoltaic solar technology to get electricity straightaway. Then there are building-integrated PV products like solar roof shingles or opaque glass PV facades for homes that become part of the construction process of the building. Pleasing to the eyes and cost effective to a greater degree, this space-age produces are changing the home scenario in most US towns and cities. And parts of the world are catching up too. No wonder, this building integration market for the products are rapidly growing to the tune of 30% to 35% every year.

As compared to the last decade when any large commercial US city boasted of a few and far between solar paneled home, today more than 10,000 homes in an average US city are exclusively powered by solar energy, while around 200,000 residential quarters have photovoltaic facilities installed in them. The phenomenon is more strikingly seen in cases of isolated villas that do not have power grid within a reasonable distance.

One major reason for this is the cost involved. Whereas the cost of drawing power lines from the grid to the location costs around $20,000 to $80,000 per mile, the same for installation of an off-grid PV system to the site comes to $15,000 to $20,000 per kilowatt. Even this cost goes down substantially if it is installed during the initial construction. And the dividends are high in terms getting independent pollution free power for which one need not have to pay alarming electricity bills every time. No wonder, an ever increasing number of people are turning solar.

Lifestyle demands of most US citizens consist of taking baths at least everyday. And since most US cities experience rather harsh winters, water heating is a daily exercise for indulging in such ‘luxury’. According to an estimate, more than $13 billion per year is spent on water heating alone. In fact, it accounts for ¼ of the total energy that is used in a single-family home. A water heater therefore, is the single largest energy user in terms of all electrical appliances that are used in the home. Here, the solar energy system provide the biggest potential saving to the home owner – the family can save as much as 85% on utility bills on the cost of electric water heating.

But that is not all. There are other advantages too that make solar power such an attractive proposition. With the solar water heating system included in the financing for a new home, the home owner is entitled to a federal income tax deduction against the home mortgage while lenders in more than nine states offer ‘Energy Mortgage’ for the benefit of the mortgagee.

During a recent survey that was conducted on home mortgaging where more than 1.5 million Americans had participated, as many as 94% expressed their contentment in investing for solar hot water system.

Here is another fact about solar energy – did you know that you can install a solar energy system at home yourself? Yes it is possible provided you know a few things such as how to select the location and set it up, where to buy cheap parts and batteries from, how to wire the system and last but not the least the safety precautions. To build the solar energy system at home for ecological and financial benefits you need to know all this.