Solar power for homes needs to be understood as another way to save money, increase the value of your house and have free electricity for years. Solar power for your home is another way to go green and take part in global warming solutions. Having stated the benefits of solar power perhaps it would be wise to first explain what solar power is to appreciate the benefits that come with solar power systems for homes.
There are basically 2 types of solar power systems for homes – Solar Photovoltaics (PV) for producing electricity and Solar Thermal for heating. Let us look at each;
Solar Photovoltaics
Photovoltaics, or PV as it is normally shortened, is defined as conversion of light energy to electricity by semi conducting materials like silicon through a photoelectric effect process. Another way to understand this word is to look at its origins. Photovoltaic is divided into two parts – photo and volt. Photo comes from a Greek word phos meaning light and volt is a unit measurement of electricity named after Alessandro Volta (1745-827), one of the pioneers in the study of electricity. So basically photovoltaics is light (photo) electricity (volta) – light electricity. The production of this type of electricity is performed by a solar panel using interconnected solar cells. So one might ask, what does this mean to you if you want solar power for your home? This is just to give a basic understating of what solar electricity is, like you’d be interested in knowing the history of your country. However there are tremendous benefits to this light electricity as you will see below, but let us first define solar heating!
Solar Thermal
Solar thermal is defined as use of direct heat from the sun to heat water for the home or air for air-conditioning. Advanced systems may use a transfer fluid to move heat to a water storage tank or air conditioner for warming or heating the house. A solar thermal system will normally have a solar collector to absorb heat energy from the sun and transfer it to the medium to be heated. This medium can be water for swimming pool, bathing or household use, or it can be space (air) or it can be a fluid that has better heat absorbing qualities or better heat dispersing qualities other than water and air!
We have now covered the basics of Solar Photovoltaics and Solar Thermal as solar power systems for homes. Now let us quickly look at the benefits of these systems.
First and foremost solar power for homes is cost effective in the long run. Why? Because the cost of energy produced by solar systems continue to drop rather than rising like the current electricity supply utilities. However at present electricity-unit-cost for electricity-unit-cost a solar system is generally more expensive than electricity from your local utility. This may be a bit tricky if you consider upfront costs for installation of solar power for home use or using your local grid. Obviously your local grid will cost far less than a solar system installation. But if you were to look back 5 years after installation, long term, a solar system would by far surpass the local utility usage. In most cases a solar system will payback itself within 5 years and thereafter the power is free to you – no monthly bills!
Secondly and in conclusion solar power for the home will operate unattended and requires minimal maintenance, the system can be designed for future expansion when the pocket allows, and a solar power system for home use burns less natural gas, creates no pollution and generates no waste when operating . It does not pollute the atmosphere with the carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide and other air pollutants that are produced by the power plants.
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