I want to reduce my carbon footprint, and solar energy is completely renewable, and 100% clean energy, so I need help figuring out how to make solar panels that will power my entire house and will eliminate my reliance on the power grid completely (or at least 80%+).
More Pages:
- Solar Energy: Is This The Reason Why Solar Panels Are Energy Efficient? (8/12/2011)
- Solar Energy: If I Wanted To Start Learning About The Basics Of Making A Home More Energy Efficient Where Would You Go? (6/20/2012)
- Solar Panel: Solar Panels On Roof. Can You Help Me Decide? (7/1/2011)
- Is there a standard rating system for consumer products that measures the “green” value of a product?
- Ways to reduce pollution…?
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
The technology of the solar panels is way beyond any DIY project. You can buy pre-assembled panels and install them, but you also need the devices to make the DC they generate into the AC your home needs. Also you will need the batteries for the nights and the times when the sun does not shine. Solar/ photo voltaic generation does work but is not a cost effective way to reduce your reliance on the electrical grid as of this time. They cost 2 arms and a leg, and take many years to come close to break even on the electrical savings. Do a search on the amount of power each panel will generate and then compute how much power you need and what the costs are. I believe in solar power, but not for an individual residence is it practical. Good luck.
The price of solar panels is coming down every day and though it is still very expensive to buy them you can build your own relatively simply.
There is a free report available at the website below explaining how to do it in more detail and all of the components you will need.
The most costly part are the photovoltaic cells which can now be bought at really low prices on ebay.
Everything in the body of your question is laudable, and possible, except for the part about “cheap.”
Solar electric is generally a large ($ 10k or more) up-front investment, and a cost savings over time, as well as environmental benefit. And in many areas, it would never recover its initial investment, not at today’s prices. Costs continue to fall, though.
The internet is full of sites that suggest you can power your whole house with just $ 200 or less of homemade panels. As to the information, you could probably find it through a bittorrent search site, by looking for “solar panel”, and would see that the kind of information being sold is not practical at all. See http://www.nlcpr.com/Deceptions6.php for a rebuttal to these scams.
You could build your own solar water heater, and plans will come up in Google.