Montgomery Decor

According to the Department of Energy, an American family spends an average of $1,400 a year on lighting/heat. And that price is only increasing. The cost of energy has become so ridiculous that the alternative sources are beginning to compete with oil and coal for the first time since the 1970s. Wind, hydro, and geothermal power are examples of alternative energy, but the most popular option is solar energy.

Each day, the sun gives off around 1,000 watts of energy per square meter. It is the number one source of natural light and heat; nearly all living organisms rely on it to provide life, yet it’s still taken us a long time to consider it as a prominent source of energy. When the sun’s rays are converted into usable energy we could light/heat all of our businesses and houses for the cost of the equipment.

But what is solar power exactly? Many of us know that it comes from the sun, but how can we translate that into powering our appliances?

We utilize solar energy with the help of solar cells. Remember using solar powered calculators in school? Those calculators had a small solar panel, usually above the display screen, which was responsible for powering the machine without the help of batteries. Basically, the solar cells used for these calculators are called photovoltaic (PV) cells, which convert sunlight into electricity. Photovoltaic cells are made from semiconductor-material (silicon) which absorb sunlight and transfer it to the actual semiconductors. Once there, electrons are broken off and allowed to move freely. The cells then move the loose electrons into a certain direction to create a current – placing metal on the top and bottom of this stream allows practical use of the current in our homes, calculators, and wherever else is plugged in to accept energy from the panels. Panels used for private homes and businesses work using the same process, only on a much larger scale. This is a very simple explanation – there is a lot more to the process – but it’s useful to know the basic mechanics.

Besides saving money, there are numerous other benefits to installing cells in your home. Solar energy is environmentally responsible; by not supporting coal/fossil/kerosene-burning energies, we contribute to improving the air-quality. Power plants are major polluters and one of the major causes for diminishing our ozone layer. Generating solar energy also reduces the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide is the leading cause of global warming and massive amounts of it are released into the air every time from power plants that generate and distribute conventional electricity.

Collecting and generating energy from the sun also reduces the risk of fires. Every type of generator, lamp, or diesel fuel has the potential of failing, which could prove fatal and destructive. Energy from the sun doesn’t involve any such risks.

Solar panels are the safe, money-efficient energy option for the forward-thinking consumer.

Anne Clarke writes numerous articles for Web sites on renewable energy, parenting, fashion, and home decor. Her background also includes teaching, gardening, and fashion. For more of her useful articles on solar power, please visit Solar Power, supplier of solar power panels, solar power kits, and more.

Home Energy Savings

• If you are building a new home, site your house so that the long axis runs from east to west. This allows for passive solar and passive cooling to function more effectively.
• Buy energy efficient windows with a proven track record. The better windows will block excess transfer of heat. Also, consider minimizing windows to the west, as they may cause overheating.
• Enhance passive heating and cooling by adding overhangs and porches. For both new and already existing homes, plant trees and other energy efficient landscaping to provide consistent shade and lower cooling costs.
• Use enough insulation. This will keep your home cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter. Attics especially can overheat, so consider extra attic insulation or even a radiant barrier. Also, a light colored shingle will reflect heat and keep your attic cooler.
• Buy a tankless (such as Rinnai) water heater – they don’t waste energy heating water you are not using. A gas-powered tankless heater may be more efficient than an electric one.
• Consider a solar hot water heating system for your home. You may even qualify for a government rebate on one of these systems.
• Buy energy efficient appliances. A high efficiency heat pump is likely more energy conserving than a furnace and a separate air conditioning unit.
• Unplug appliances that are not in use – or at least connect them to a power strip so you can turn off the power. Even chargers guzzle energy when they are connected to the outlet – whether you have that cell phone plugged into it or not.
• Use solar lighting outdoors . Not only will you increase your safety when walking to and from the house at night, but your ‘automatic friends’ will operate with only the kiss of the sun for energy!
• Use compact fluorescent light bulbs. You will be amazed at how much heat those incandescent bulbs put off! You’ll pay more for a compact fluorescent bulb comparable to a 60-watt incandescent, but it will use 1/3 as much energy to operate, last 10 times as long as your old bulbs, and produce 75% less heat! Use “space heating” when possible. We tried an experiment this past winter – we used primarily oil-filled radiator heaters in the rooms we used the most during the day, and then put small heaters in rooms at night as needed. The winter electricity bills plummeted!

~Fight back against the high cost of fuel with these home energy saving ideas – you’ll conserve energy, money, and hassle when you do!

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A lot of financial news is being made about solar power and solar power generation. What is solar power, and how does it affect you?

First, all energy we use in the world, other than nuclear, is ultimately derived from solar power. Fossil fuels are solar power that’s been converted to carbon rich compounds over the course of millennia. However, solar power as it’s currently described, whether as solar power for the home, or solar power as alternative electrical generation capacity, isn’t using fossil fuels, it’s using the energy of the Sun directly.

Solar energy (the solar constant at the surface of the Earth) is about 164 watts per square meter. Or, put another way, over the average surface area of the earth, each square yard of your front yard receives enough energy to run two and three quarters of a 60 watt incandescent bulb (or about 12 compact fluorescent bulbs or over 20 LED bulbs).

It seems downright wasteful to not harness that energy that’s coming down from space for free. There are two ways that solar power works: Solar thermal systems (where the energy of the sun is used to heat up a working fluid, which has its energy released later) and photovoltaic systems (which work from the photo-electric effect. Believe it or not, Albert Einstein’s Nobel Prize comes from the photo-electric effect, not the Theory of Relativity).

Photovoltaic power systems generate electricity, at about 16% efficiency for silicon wafer based cells, and up to 40% efficiency for rare earth Gallium Arsenide cells. Most commercial photovoltaic systems use the lower efficiency silicon wafer technology, because the amount of time it would take the higher efficiency cells to pay back their initial construction and emplacement costs is prohibitive when compared to coal fired plants.

For solar power in the home, most systems are solar thermal. You run water tanks through a thick south facing wall that’s painted a dark color; the water is heated by the solar energy that’s absorbed, and then circulated into a holding tank in the basement. In some plans, this hot water is used for bathing and domestic uses. More innovative schemes run the hot water through radiators, or pipes in the floor, where it warms the house during the night. Photovoltaic generators can take the edge off of an electrical bill, but because of the expense and the low efficiency, generally aren’t enough to make a house energy independent throughout the year.

If you’re seriously considering how solar power works and what it can do for you, talk to your utility company. Most utility companies, knowing what solar power is, will give you credits to install solar systems in your home, and will give you credit for electricity you generate and sell back to the grid.

As to the question What Is Solar Power? It’s something we’ve been using, and will continue to use for millennia to come.

About the Author: Milos J Leonard is a solar power expert that can help you find the perfect solar power kit Find the best solar power kit discounts on the web and help save our earth by powering your home with natural energy.

These days it’s important to conserve energy and use less electricity. One of the prominent issues in the energy crisis especially in the heat waves, or the ultra cold winter months where people are all using their air conditioners, heaters or central heat and air at the same time, are draining available power available at the power plant.

Many don’t think about the problem as they continue to use their electricity the same way. Many don’t want to give up their current energy consumption because they feel they need it to keep their homes cool in the summer and warm in the winter, and refuse to sacrifice comfort for saving money. There is a better way, however, that will both help lower the use of electricity and maintain the homes comfort levels as well! This may just be the perfect compromise!

One way to conserve power is to make your home more efficient so you don’t have to keep that air conditioner or heater on all day. If you want to use less power which also helps you spend less money on electric bills, and still keep your home comfortable, the solution may be easier to find than you ever imagined. Insulation is something people may not think about too much, but this can be both the problem and solution to the problem.

The use of the new spray foam insulation products is easier than ever, and actually a bit of fun. Unlike the pink fiberglass sheets we used to put into our attics in the past to maintain insulation of heat and cold air, you can now apply a super efficient spray foam insulation product that will give you a substantial edge on your insulation rating. This both raises the value of your home and lowers your electricity needs. The air conditioner and heater are often the highest consuming electricity products in most homes and being able to use these less while still maintaining the homes comfortable temperature is a bonus!

With the spray foam insulation products your home is more efficiently covered with insulation. Unlike the old laid in pink fiberglass insulation pieces, the spray foam insulation is made of polyurethane (amongst other materials) and actually covers more completely, the areas where air used to escape or even came in from outside uninvited. This is a self adhesive material that literally fills in the holes that the old fiberglass insulation used to leave unguarded. Your home will be more efficiently insulated from both outside cold or heat getting in and the heat and cold air generated from your air conditioner units. Central heat and air will be more efficiently contained in your home there by allowing you to turn on the unit less while maintaining an even temperature in the home. It was never that people wanted to run their air conditioner all day; it was more that they had to because in the past the air simply didn’t stay in the house!

With good insulation you can heat up or cool your home more quickly and maintain an efficient use of your power. Since the home will be more efficient your electric bill will be substantially lower. Many power companies will actually give you a discount on your bill just for installing this insulation. It helps the power company when you use less electricity! It is also more convenient because although you may have had to leave the air on for long periods of time before feeling comfortable on a hot or cold day, the efficiency of this insulation type speeds up the time it takes to fill the home with cold or hot air and keeps it in!

Learning how to recondition batteries was something we undertook so that our off grid renewable energy system would be more cost effective.

We had heard that we could take old batteries and recharge them bringing them back to new condition. It sounded like a good idea, taking some old batteries and bringing them back to life. But how to recondition batteries?

We figured that a simple battery charger would be able to revamp old batteries but even when charged for days they still didn’t work.

We really didn’t want to take apart the batteries to see what was wrong so we did a bit of research first. It turns out that most batteries have plates in them surrounded by mild sulphuric acid. As the battery gets older and more discharged the plates tend to get oxidized. A buildup of this stuff eventually renders them useless. It is actually called sulfating.

We discovered there is some ingenious little device called a desulfator that sends a pulse through the plates and eventually breaks off the sulfates on the plates returning the battery to normal condition.

It sounded pretty cool so we set out to find a battery desulfator for ourselves and get better at learning how to recondition batteries.

We looked around but most of them came in around the $300 range. It didn’t look like a very complicated device so we decided to see if we could make our own battery desulfator.

What did we need to get started?

· Good reliable plans to build a battery desulfator· Find a source of parts to make it· Learn how to recondition batteries

We looked around for some suitable plans and found most of them were under $20 so we figured that wasn’t too bad. One set of plans even told you how to build a business learning how to recondition batteries. That sounded interesting as there must be a tremendous supply of old batteries that could be revitalized.

We settled on the plans from the Off Grid Living website, but we are keeping in mind those other plans to start a battery reconditioning business.

It was pretty interesting and cost us only about $15 to build our own battery desulfator. It worked pretty good taking an average of only a couple weeks to bring a battery back to life.

We learned where we could get industrial batteries for free as well. Now we have all of the off grid batteries we could ever use. Only about half of them we are able to recondition but considering that batteries are a huge part of any renewable energy system cost that isn’t bad. We have saved thousands of dollars.

These days, fuel costs are soaring, and people are worried about the environment. The old-fashion water heaters have the problem of having to heat and keep hot a large amount of water. Over time, that eats up a lot of energy, and that means raising your electric or gas bill. That is where electric tankless water heaters come in. They are also known as demand water heaters or instantaneous water heaters; they only provide hot water when it is needed. As a result, they use much less energy, which means saving you money, and they are much smaller than a conventional water heater.

Tankless water heaters are tankless because they heat the water each time you turn on the hot water tap. Thus they have no need of a storage tank, and do not lose heat. When you turn on the hot water, water flows into the unit, and is heated – either by an electric heater, or a gas one. Usually, the gas tankless water heaters produce hot water at a slightly higher rate then electric ones, but the latter has the virtue of versatility; you can put a small one in just about any room of your house. So, if you want to put a small tankless water heater in your kitchen – so you can get that single cup of coffee you need to start the day, you can install it right under a kitchen cabinet.

When looking to buy a tankless water heater, the type of fuel is the first thing you want to consider; electric or gas. When it comes to an electric model, you need to be aware of its voltage and amperage; and then check with an electrician to be sure your home can handle it. With a gas tankless water heater, you need to be sure you have the right type of gas – natural gas or propane, available before installing the unit. Also, the gas-types need to be vented, so keep that in mind when deciding where to install the unit.

Next, look at where you want to put the tankless water heaters in your home, and what sort of demand they are going to handle. A small unit under a kitchen cabinet can be fine for washing dishes, filling a cooking pot, or making coffee or tea. Now, if you want to heat all the water for your bathroom, that is going to require a still larger unit. If you are going to be servicing an entire home, apartment or condo, you will need a bigger heater. Normally, you figure out the size of the tankless water heater by counting up the number of fixtures in the room / house that will need hot water. Check with a plumber to get the gallons per minute for each fixture, and then they can help you calculate the total hot water demand.

Finally, you need to look at the application for your tankless water heater; that is, what does it need to do? Is it a Single Point Application – it provides hot water for just one fixture? Or, maybe you have a room that is very far from the main water heater, and the water tends to get pretty cold by the time it gets there. Well, then you can install a tankless water heater to serve as a booster. Of course, there is also the whole house type, which is rather self-explanatory.