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Why Choose Solar Power For Your Home?

Solar Power
Why Choose Solar Power For Your Home?

The cost of electricity continues to increase as time passes. Natural resources are being exploited in order to provide the needed power for cities and towns in certain areas. This has shifted the interest of the public in utilizing the sun’s immense energy to provide power for various applications.

Solar power has been used in different areas of everyday life. Some countries have used solar energy as the main source of their enormous need for power or electricity. Several companies have utilized this energy in their offices by using solar panels. In fact, there are a number of homes that are using solar energy instead of getting it straight from the local power company.

There are many reasons choosing solar energy for our home energy needs makes good sense.
Firstly there are of course the large number of environmental benefits that solar power provides. As I’m sure you are aware, solar energy is energy which is given off by the suns radiation and as such is a natural renewable source of energy. Solar also is a very clean form of electricity, unlike traditional coal and gas fuels, the production and use of solar energy doesn’t result in environmentally harmful emissions and by-products being given off.

Another often overlooked environmentally helpful aspect of this form of energy is, as we use it more and more it replaces the traditional environmentally harmful sources, which as a result lessens the impact on the earth and gives it space to recover.

Secondly and perhaps the biggest selling point of solar energy, given the economic times we find ourselves in, is it can save you a lot of money.

Solar energy is free energy. Once you have your unit installed the energy you reap is yours, free to use as you will. This not only allows for greater flexibility in how much power you use, but it will save you a lot of money, which is always a good thing no matter what your financial circumstance.

One definite contribution that one would make in choosing solar power for their home is being able to help the environment. This is a noble cause that one must advocate. Not only that, you get to save on electricity in the long run. This requires only a little maintenance and you would be free from worrying about recurring costs. You are also assured of a steady supply of energy and would not be affected by power failures.

There are also other home devices that run on solar power. These devices include solar powered car ventilators, video cameras, flashlights, solar heaters, radios, lighting, mosquito inhibitors, etc. With these devices at home, you are actually freeing yourself from worrying of batteries, or a power outage. All it needs is for the sun to shine and it is good to go.

There is a bit of expense in the initial stage of acquiring solar power for the home. The materials that are needed for storing and converting solar energy are quite costly, such that final solar home products become high-priced as well. But the long term benefits that solar energy offers are worth the expense from the beginning. After all, whatever amount that was spent for the installation of solar panels, or for the purchase of solar gadgets would be well-compensated by not paying your monthly electrical bills for years to come. See the beauty?

The use of solar power must be promoted by the local government. It does not only help save on monthly electrical expenses, but most of all it helps the environment which is already fast deteriorating, and in one way or another, you are ensuring a better future for the generations to come.

 

Simple Yet Effective Energy-Saving Tips at Home

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Simple Yet Effective Energy-Saving Tips at Home

Saving energy at home is very important nowadays due to the increase of electricity charges which can be a great burden to average households. Saving energy can be done in many effective ways so you don’t have to worry about paying high electricity bills.

Here are some effective energy-saving tips you should try at home to reduce your power consumption:

1.) Follow regular maintenance
Some appliances need to be cleaned and adjusted regularly. You should consider a periodical maintenance of your air conditioners, furnace, refrigerator and other appliances that need to be cleaned and adjusted in order to be always in good running condition.

2.) Be informed and aware.
Know the energy cost for each electrical appliance you have. Check out manual guides and learn to adjust the hours you use each appliance depending on the power consumption.

3.) Wash once or twice a week
Do you laundry when your laundry basket is already fully loaded. You can save energy if you only wash your clothes in full loads. Another thing is to turn the knob to cold when doing the laundry because it will lessen the energy consumed in washing your clothes thus save more energy.

4.) Use rechargeable batteries and laptop computer.
Rechargeable batteries can cost you less and can help you save energy compared to using disposable batteries. It is also proven that laptop computer is more practical to use than desktop computers because you can use the battery of your laptop when working and will only plug it to the electric source if the battery is already empty compared to a desktop computer that always needs to be plugged into a power source.

5.) Turn off appliances when not in use.
This is a common yet very important energy-saving tip. Never forget to turn off appliances including your personal computer when not in use. Even the lights in a room
should be turned off when no one’s inside. This can definitely help you lessen energy consumption and reduce your electric bill.

6.) Look for Energy Star and Energy Guide tags
When buying new appliances, you should never fail to check for energy star and energy guide labels. Appliances with these Energy Star label are proven and tested to be energy-efficient. This is the standard mark for appliances that have undergone checking by the government. Also, Energy Guide label will provide you the energy consumption for the appliance you bought so you will be aware.

7.) Defrost refrigerator for better running condition.
Set time to defrost your refrigerator or freezer once a week or as needed especially when you noticed that the ice is slowly building up. More energy is consumed when there is thick ice buildup in your refrigerator.

8) Unplug all home appliances when not in use because energy is still consumed for idle appliances.

9) Rice cookers, electric iron, refrigerator and air conditioning system are the most likely to consume much electricity. You can save home energy by properly using them. Electric iron for instance – do not iron clothes piece by piece, instead you may iron all the clothes washed within the week on a Sunday or any rest day in bulk.

10) Wash all soiled clothes on a weekend in bulk to save on water and energy use on washing machines. The water used while washing your clothes is still useful for watering the plants outside your home.

11) When using your desktop computers consume much energy so while you are not using it, put it off and unplug the cord to save on electricity.

12) Do not place hot stuff or food in your refrigerator because doing so might shorten life span of your refrigerator. Another thing to do is to refrain from opening your fridge every now and then for it consumes much current as well.

13) During hot weather, you may open all your windows to allow fresh air to come in. Air con provides much cooling effect during hot water but if you can do effective ways not to use it often much better. In this way, you can save much on your energy consumption.

There are many other simple and effective energy-saving tips you can find online to help lower your electricity bill at home. Learn these tips so you can lessen your energy consumption.

Creativity can also come in handy when conserving on electricity. On warmer days, it doesn’t hurt to open windows and let fresh air in. And if you have not heard of candles, learn the word. Dinners for two can also be made extra special on coal-grilled barbecues in the backyard and two sticks of good ol’ candles.

The possibilities of saving on home energy are simply endless with a little help from everyone in your home and with a little touch of creative conservation. And the best part? You don’t have to sacrifice luxury and convenience to save on home energy after all!

Why is Alternative Energy Important?

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Why is Alternative Energy Important?

The global economy is today far more intertwined than perhaps ever before. A natural calamity or terrorist attack affects the stock indexes of stock markets around the world. The mortgage crisis in the US has played havoc with the stock markets globally.

Recession in the US and Europe causes a slide in the global economy. If these are rather obvious and agreed upon, it can also be accepted that the rising oil prices in the world market are pinching the lay consumer worldwide. Economic development and the consumerist culture have led to a spurt in the purchase of cars in several countries of late, notably India and China. Besides, car sales in the US and other developed nations show little sign of decreasing.

Four reason why alternative energy is important
i) Environmental Concerns on the Rise
ii) Limited Reserves of Fossil Fuels
iii) Nations Toying with Alternative Energy
iv) Inevitable Proliferation of Alternative Energy

Green living is something wished for by people around the world. To support this idea, scientist and non-governmental organizations are spreading the word of importance on renewable energy resources. Here are some of advantages of using renewable energy resources, which will help you in knowing their significance:

* Renewable energy is natural source of energy and can replenish itself easily over short period of time. It comes from common sources like solar power, running water, and wind.
* They are limitless and hence one can be dependent on them unlike fossil fuels.
* Renewable sources do not pollute the environment.
* It is quite affordable and can be availed to many people as an alternative for non renewable sources at economical cost.
* Pollution free environment
* Promotes healthy living
* Helps in making wise utilization of all available resources
* Fights against global warming
* Helps in reducing effects of the entropy on Earth

 

Saving the World With Earth for Energy

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Saving the World With Earth for Energy

Energy allows us to do everything here on earth. As a matter of fact, energy is responsible for cooking our food, lighting the surroundings, powering automobiles, running factory machines, and warming our homes. It has various forms namely, chemical, electrical, geothermal, kinetic, light, nuclear, potential, solar and sound energy.

Furthermore, energy has been already widely used even before we were born. As early as 4000 BC, the solar energy was already used for heating as well as drying. And in this day and age, energy is still being used by us to surpass our everyday living here on earth. As a matter of fact, one popular topic which is concerning the energy is the Earth for Energy. This is the hottest topic because it conquers the worldwide web which is undeniably continuously gaining its popularity as time passes by.

Imagine life without electricity. Probably, life would be dull and so boring. But would you want to have no electricity at all than to pay for the burdensome huge amount of monthly electric bills? Well, most of us nowadays have some complaints about the ever increasing bills of our power consumption. It is as if we want to get rid off such bills. However, the very big question in front of us is on how to do it?

Nevertheless, we should not worry anymore for the expensive electric bills that we are encountering every month because we can actually have electricity for free.

It is undeniable that we can have free electricity by using the renewable forms of energy. The earth for energy allows us to create a power and energy system which is renewable. A renewable energy system can truly help us to make a lot of savings. This is due to the fact that we can have a particular power system with just $200 in our hands.

Indeed, earth for energy is the only solution left for us to have free electricity to power up our home appliances. It is also the only way on how to get rid of the onerous electric monthly bills that we have been encountering. Furthermore, it is actually safe to say now that we can still enjoy our stay here on earth with free electricity. Also by using renewable forms of energy as our power generator, we are actually saving our dying out environment. Hence, we really have to engage ourselves to the aforementioned online guide as soon as possible to get away with electric bills and to help our environment.

Solar Power – Advantages and Disadvantages

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Solar Power – Advantages and Disadvantages

Many of us know that solar energy is a good thing, but few really understand why. Therefore, I compiled a comprehensive list of solar energy advantages and disadvantages that will enable you to make an educated decision whether on not Solar Power is right for YOU.

Advantages of solar power-

a) Saves you money. It is getting cheaper, very rapidly due to an increase in production and new technologies being developed.

b) Panels are getting smaller, thinner and more attractive. There are even substances such as solar paint- paint which contains miniature solar panels.

c) You can circumvent some of the extreme expensive of having a system installed in your own house by a pro technician by building and installing one yourself. All you need are the right blueprints/instructions that will show you what components you need to purchase and where to get them from, how to assemble them and then how to install them in your own home in a safe, reliable and easy manner.

d) Solar energy is a renewable resource. Although we cannot utilize the power of the sun at night or on stormy, cloudy days, etc., we can count on the sun being there the next day, ready to give us more energy and light. As long as we have the sun, we can have solar energy (and on the day that we no longer have the sun, you can believe that we will no longer have ourselves, either).

e) Solar cells are totally silent. They can extract energy from the sun without making a peep. Now imagine the noise that the giant machines used to drill for and pump oil make!

f) Solar energy is non-polluting. Of all advantages of solar energy over that of oil, this is, perhaps, the most important. The burning of oil releases carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases and carcinogens into the air.

g) Low/ no maintenance. Solar cells require very little maintenance (they have no moving parts that will need to be fixed), and they last a long time.
Disadvantages of solar power-

Here are the disadvantages of solar energy:

a) Solar cells/panels, etc. can be very expensive.
The initial cost is the main disadvantage of installing a solar energy system, largely because of the high cost of the semi-conducting materials used in building one.

b) Solar power cannot be created at night. No solar energy will be produced during nighttime although a battery backup system and/or net metering will solve this problem. See http://www.dsireusa.org for details on how net metering allows you to save electricity and money.

It requires a lot of land area if it is used on a commercial scale. Thousands of square miles of prime land would need to be used to provide enough energy for all non-transport energy use in the USA alone.

c) The expense of this form of alternative energy is still apparent. Solar panels, especially photovoltaic ones, although they have got substantially cheaper over recent years still do cost quite a large sum of money. Economies of scale still mean that it is cheaper for power companies to use gas, oil or nuclear technologies to generate electricity.

d) There is an inherent risk in the fact that the efficiency and generation capacity of solar panels relies on how much the sun is shining. The weather is quite hard to predict accurately, and very few people want to play “Russian roulette” with their electricity supply.

Energy Alternative Information at Your Fingertips

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Energy Alternative Information at Your Fingertips

When we say alternative energy, it means any source of usable and exploitable energy which is deliberately researched and calculated to replace the ordinary fuel sources. Today, there are many different sources of energy readily available for consumption; it is just a matter of time when the energy alternative will be fully utilized in every home.

Wood is considered as the most basic source of energy. In early times, it is used as a means to make trains run or just simply cooking. Nowadays, since wood is becoming scarce and limited, people are finding ways to alleviate or lessen the needs for wood energy. One energy alternative for wood is coal. Coal is an effective source of energy as it replaces everything that wood energy can provide. Coal is quite accessible, all one has to do is to create a coal mine, and surely, coal will be found.

Petroleum is another energy alternative. Petroleum replaces the use of whale oil back in the 19th century. During that time, whale oils are commonly used for lubrication and fuel for lamps. Now, petroleum is widely used because is it is cheaper than whale oil.

Petroleum, as stated, is an alternative to whale oils. But now, petroleum is becoming limited, as such, another energy alternative was discovered to replace petroleum, and that is goal gasification. Coal gasification simply means coal turned into a gas.

Alcohol is another form of energy alternative. Before alcohol, many people way back then used fossil fuels to run almost everything. However, due to scarcity and limited accessibility of fossil fuels, the use thereof had become very expensive. Since 1917, alcohol had been used as an energy alternative to fossil fuel and become a new trend in providing fuel to many establishments. The good thing about alcohol is that one can just build an ethanol plant in order to obtain this kind of energy alternative.

There are also these zero carbon alternatives. In countries where change of climate is an issue, and thus, making it difficult to store and restore energy, hydrogen and biomass combustion is often used. It is derived from natural gas and does not present any available alternatives because they are not commonly used world wide.

In some countries, they treat natural gas as an alternative source of energy. It is an effective energy alternative as opposed to petroleum. Potential sources of natural gas include decomposition of waste in landfills, agricultural waste materials, unusable parts of plants or manure, and many more.

Solar power is also one of the very famous energy alternative. During the past year the prices of photovoltaic solar panels have declined somewhat yet are still anticipated to fall even further as the technology advances and some manufacturers have already stated that their pricing is now comparable to the costs of conventional electrical energy. Unfortunately for many these prices are still a big pill to consider swallowing given the current state of economics in many countries around the world. You’ve tried to make all the changes to your home or businesses energy efficiencies such as switching to compact fluorescent light bulbs, using Energy Star rated appliances or installing a power factor conditioning unit to reduce your wasted electrical consumption but you still want to attain greater reductions in your energy costs. There are a great many systems currently available which when used in combination’s can have a great impact on your energy costs while providing the functionality your lifestyle has grown accustomed too.

Tackle the high ticket energy costs first and take advantage of the government grants, rebates and incentives while they are still available. Even if you can only afford a 1kw solar panel electric system to supplement your energy needs you can still add to it at a later date. Consider also using solar powered outdoor lighting systems so that you can eliminate the need for any conventionally powered outdoor lighting. Adding a solar thermal hot water system is very comparable to the replacement costs of your current gas or electric hot water tanks already and as they can save up to 47% of your energy costs you can take advantage of the savings they offer. The idea here is too take advantage of the savings offered by multiple systems in combination’s to give you a collective savings overall.

In this age of technology and advancement, most countries resort to hydro and geothermal plants in order to produce energy. This is commonly called as renewable energy. Other examples include solar energy, energy coming from wind mills or the ocean. These sources of energy are the best alternative to the commonly used coal, petroleum, or fossil fuels. They are called renewable because they produce energy without wasting or combusting anything. Renewable energy is one of the sources of alternative energy that is being utilized and improved today because of its unlimited source and easy accessibility.

If you have no idea where to start then it is best that you contact either an energy consultant or a home energy auditor service to have your home or business inspected. Using the latest technologies in thermal imagery, electrical data logging and heat loss detection systems they can very quickly give you a report showing all of your home or businesses greatest weaknesses in energy efficiencies. They will also provide you with a hit list of the areas that need the greatest improvements in a priority list which you can later chip away at. Sometimes the changes needed can seem insurmountable but like my grandfather would always say, “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time”. These changes can be overcome with the proper information and system usage.