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Solar Power is the Way of Powering Your Home Economically

Are you aware of the advances in solar power generation? Technology has now enabled houses to be powered completely by solar power. Houses can now be powered by natural sunlight. Instead of paying a monthly electric bill how would you like the electric company to pay you for your excess electricity? That's right; any additional electricity that your solar power system produces that is not used by your home can be sold to the electricity company.

How To Power Your Home With Solar Power?

A solar power system consists of a few major components.

• Solar cells capture the sun's energy and change it to electricity. Inside a solar panel, each cell contains silicon that absorbs sunlight. The energy in this absorbed light produces a small electrical current. Metal grids around the solar cells direct the currents into wires that lead to the power controls.
• A solar panel is made up of a collection of solar cells. Combined the solar panel produces DC electricity.
• The solar array is comprised of one or more solar panels. The solar modules need to be mounted facing the sun and avoiding shade for best results.
• Inverter – Converts DC electricity to AC electricity.
• The main function of a charge controller is to prevent over charging which results in out-gassing of the batteries, as well as keeping electrical storage in the batteries from discharging to the solar modules at night.
• The battery pack store the solar power generated and discharge the power to the home as needed.

Will I recoup my investment in solar power for my home?

The way to view a solar powered system is to view it as a long term investment. If you are planning on selling your home within the next couple of years investing in solar power is not worth it. Once you have priced the installation cost of a solar powered system and how much electricity it will produce per day, you can easily determine how long it will take to recoup your investment. Once the system has paid for itself, it keeps on producing electricity and saving you money. With rising cost of electricity purchased from the local electric utility, your investment in solar power will be paid for fairly quickly in the form of a lower electric power bill.

Think about how much money you pay each month to the electric company. You pay them to light up your home, cook your food, keep your food fresh and frozen. You pay them in the summer months to power the air conditioner and in the winter months to power the heater. My heating system is oil or gas what do you mean that I pay the electric utility company to heat my home? The heater has a blower fan that is powered by electricity. But why should you have to pay for electricity when you can get solar power that comes a natural source: the sun.

The sun shines over head each and every day. Solar cells convert the sunlight into electricity. A solar powered system is connected to an inverter and optional battery pack. During the day time the solar array charges the battery pack and provides electricity to power your home. Any excess electricity is sold to the electric utility.

Why does direction of the solar array matter?

In order for a solar powered system to work, the solar arrays must have direct access to sunlight. They should not be blocked by any obstruction such as trees or buildings. The ideal location is on the South facing side of your roof, where the sun beats down directly.

How do I find out the installation cost?

Before purchasing a solar power system, obtain quotes from the leading solar power installation companies in your city. Ask each one for an estimate and a detailed list of the components they would install. There are several things you should receive with the estimate.
• A list of components that they will be installing.
• An estimate on the maximum electricity produced by the proposed solar power system.
• Total price of installing the solar powered system. There shouldn't be any cost overruns.
• Check into any solar power rebates and tax incentives. Will they help you apply for them?

Even thought the up front cost of installing a solar powered system can be expensive, the long term production of solar power will pay for itself many times over.