Do It Yourself Solar Power – Is It Viable?
Let’s get straight to the question that always comes up in regards to do it yourself solar power. Is it a viable option for your home? Will it work for your lifestyle, or is it just some kind of fancy green-marketing ploy to sell you an impractical method of energy production?
Well, here’s the deal. Solar power is starting to receive strong support from governments around the world, and many are even beginning to offer grants for residences and businesses that install solar energy systems. And it’s not like harnessing solar energy is anything new to us. We’ve been using solar power to heat our water for quite some time now, and the only difference from that is with diy solar power, you’re creating electricity rather than heat.
This must be familiar to you. Surely you had one of those solar powered calculators that were in abundance a few years back, and if you camp much you’ve probably encountered someone with a solar powered cell phone charger, if you don’t have one yourself. Those are all low voltage applications though. What happens in a situation like your workplace or your home, where you need a constant flow of electricity?
The sun isn’t out 24 hours a day. Even during the longest days of the summer, night eventually falls. What happens to your solar power then? And for that matter, what do you do if it’s cloudy during the day?
Thankfully, if you genuinely want to go solar, you can always get storage batteries. Depending on how many and what type you get, these can provide you with anywhere from hours to weeks of reserve power. The alternate option is to stay on the grid, but use a switch to swap between solar and standard electrical power.
If you’re feeling particularly green, you could always combine do it yourself solar power with an alternate technology such as windmill power or a magnetic generator. This will account for the winter months, when solar power is at its weakest and there is still a steady demand for electricity due to the darkness of the winter months and the need for heating.
I’ll be answering another one of the nagging do it yourself solar power questions in the next article, so stick around. Cheers.
- Paul