Your Solar Panel Home Opportunities

With the current state of the economy and the increasing impact of fossil fuels on the Earth’s climate, more and more people want to have a solar panel home.  If you are concerned about the environment or just looking to save money, there are a number of solar and wind power products that both help save you money and help save the planet.

The good news is that with the growing interest in renewable energy for the home and the breakthroughs in technology, going green at home makes sound economic sense, if you take the long view.  Also, you don’t need to spend weeks and months researching how create your own solar panel home.  There are many different products on the market, ranging from DIY guides and plans, to used solar panels, through to custom made windmills.

There are three broad categories of renewable green energy that you should consider as part of creating your own solar panel home:

hot water solar panels

Hot Water Solar Panels for Heating your Water.

Hot water solar panels  or solar thermal panels are usually installed in the roof of your house and use the sunlight to directly heat your water.  Even if you live in a cooler country such as the UK, hot water solar panels can dramatically reduce your hot water bills.  The actual payback period will depend on your location, but in the UK payback should be between 5 – 10 years.  It make much more economic sense to invest in hot water solar panels first, before installing electric solar or PV panels.

electric solar or PV panel

Electric Solar Panels.

Electric solar panels or photovoltaic panels are often referred to as PV panels and are used to generate electricity.  These can be bought from a number of manufacturers and there are a number of articles on this site that show you where to get them cheaply, either retail or wholesale.  Photovoltaic panels will reduce you electricity bills and you will also get paid by the electricity companies for putting your surplus electricity into the electricity grid.  However, to make a substantial difference to your solar panel home electric bill, it is usually necessary to install a number of PV panels.  The amount of solar panel watts required for your solar panel home to make a 70% cut in your electricity bill depends on your circumstances.  See our article on Solar Panel Cost and Payback for some real life examples of the cost and benefits of solar panel installations.

Wind Powered Turbines.

Windmills have been around for centuries, but with the advances in blade design coupled with the technological improvement to electricity generators have

♠

wind turbine

made these very attractive as viable sources of renewable energy.  Again, these can be purchased as complete products from the manufacturer or there are a number of very good guides and kits available that enable you to have your own wind powered generator at a significantly reduced cost.

Make It Yourself?

We have recently completed a review of the leading kits & guides for making your own solar panels.  If you want to have a solar panel home and are attracted to the idea of making them yourself, please see our review of the leading “how to make solar panels” guides / kits.

Please be aware that the vast majority of the web sites promoting these kits make all sorts of outlandish claims.  Some even imply you can dramatically cut your electricity bills for a couple of hundred dollars – sorry to disappoint you, but quite frankly that really is nonsense.  In our review we try and give a realistic and honest view of the truth behind making your own solar panels.

However, if you are very keen to make a couple of solar panels to provide lighting and some power for say your workshop or shed, then making your own panels can be enjoyable and satisfying.  But only consider making a solar panel as a science or DIY project.  We have found some very competitive retail bargains on Amazon where they are selling the equivalent of 2 x 60watt panels for $360, so making them yourself will not provide any real cost savings.  Also, DIY solar panels will not last as long as commercially manufactured panels, nor will home made solar panels qualify for the generous grants and rebates that are available from the Government.

Having said all this, if you really want to make a solar panel yourself (and I think it would be a great project), get the right guide that shows you how to do it.  Our review identified 3 guides/kits which do an excellent job of showing you step by step how to make a solar panel.  The “how to do it” guide that stood out as being the most complete product was HomeMadeEnergy.  Other guides also highly recommended are GreenDIYenergy and Earth4Energy.  For more information please see our review.

Conclusion

A growing number of folk are wanting to set up their own solar panel home and use the renewable energy options described above to provide clean, green, environmentally safe, reliable energy.  We know that fossil fuels will eventually run out and the longer we go on using them, the greater the harm to our planet.  These sources of renewal energy do not produce greenhouse gasses or pollute our air, sea or rivers.

Whether you are driven by a desire to save the planet, just want to save money or love the idea of making something that will provide you with free energy, there are great products on the market.  If you want a great science or DIY project, making your own solar panel should be enjoyable and very satisfying, see our review for details of the “how to” guides that are available.  But if you are seriously wanting to install a number of solar panels to cut your electricity bills and help the planet, don’t bother with the DIY route, buy retail or search out some wholesale bargains.