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 and the ongoing 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.  With the likely increase in the cost of gas and electricity, this payback period can be expected to get shorter.  For maximum return on your funds, your first investment in solar energy should be to install hot water solar panels.  Do this before you start looking at 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.  PV panels generate electricity and can be bought from a number of sources.  If you explore this website you will find a number of articles on where to get them cheaply, either retail or wholesale.  Photovoltaic panels can reduce your electricity bills and  if they are grid tied (connected to the electric grid) you will also get paid by the electricity companies for the surplus electricity you generate but don’t use.  However, to make a substantial difference to your solar panel home electric bill, it will be necessary to install a large 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

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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?

There are a number of websites promoting their “how to make your own solar panels” guides and videos.  Many of these make all sorts of outlandish claims and completely fail to spell out the problems of trying to use DIY solar panels.  If you are tempted by the DIY route, please keep the following in mind:

• A typical house needs at least 3000 watts of solar energy.  That is a minimum of 50 x 60watt solar panels.
• Government grants are usually available for installing solar panels, but these grants are NOT applicable to DIY solar panels.
• It is most unlikely that your electricity company will allow you to connect your DIY panels to the grid, so you won’t be allowed to connect your DIY panels to your ring main at home.
• Nor will you be able to sell the electricity you generate to your electric company.
• Commercially manufactured solar panels should last 25 – 30 years, your DIY solar panel will have a much reduced life.

All things considered, it simply doesn’t make sense to go the DIY route.  If you install DIY panels on you roof and these catch fire (yes, it does happen), don’t be surprised if your insurance company turns down you claim once they ascertain you had installed PV panels that were not commercially manufactured.

Even if you just want to make a couple of panels to provide external lighting for your garden or a workshop, if you search around you may well be able to buy commercially manufactured UL certified panels for not a lot more than the cost of making them yourself.  We came across 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.  

If you are still determined to make your own solar panel, then make sure you get the best guide available so you do it properly and safely.  Our review of the leading guides identified 3 suppliers who have done 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.  But when visting their websites, please do not be taken in by their outlandish claims and talk of selling your electricity back to your utility company!.

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.

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