If you've been thinking about installing you own solar panels on your house, you've probably been wondering how a home solar system works.
The simplest systems work like this:
- All the electric energy that your photo voltaic panels produce goes through an inverter that transforms the DC (direct current) into AC (alternating current) and from there it goes out into the national grid. A meter tells you how much energy you send into the grid.
- You consume the energy necessary to power your home from the national grid. Your consumption meter tells you how many KW/h you use.
- At the end of each month (or quarter) a calculation is made between the amount of energy you spent and the amount of energy you produced.
Thus you know whether you either get money from your electrical company or you have to pay them. And even if you pay them, you pay less than you paid before installing your solar panels array.
Other systems include a combination of consuming your own energy and delivering some into the national grid. Some include a single meter that goes backwards when you produce energy - so you're basically earning credit to use electric energy from the grid.
A system with batteries is very expensive but that can be an alternative too. That's if you want to live totally off the grid.
However, being connected to the national energy distribution system means you can sell the extra energy. And that's always better than having extra capacity to produce but no room to store or no use for it.
Depending on the area you live in and on the number of photo voltaic panels you install on your house, you can produce more or less solar energy.
Here's a map of the sunniest areas in USA:
So, for a given solar array, you'll produce more electricity if you're located in Arizona, New Mexico, California (sunny California, right?), Nevada, Utah or Colorado. Yuma, Arizona being the sunniest place in United States.
The sunniest the area you live in, the more energy your solar array will produce. Basically, if you live - say - in the Southern Nevada, you'll be able to power your air conditioning unit with your PV panels.
But modern panels work even in cloudy days (and under snow as well) so that doesn't mean it's not efficient to install your own system if you live further north.
Check out if there are solar panels grants in your state.
Who knows, maybe this is the beginning of a new way of living where each household will be independent.
Maybe going green is not just a fad. What do you think? Leave a comment.
Image credit: Lechechipas.com Freepower4home
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