If you are a home owner, one of the largest monthly expenses would be on the electricity bills. We need electricity to run all of our home appliances such as television, computer, refrigerator, microwave oven, toaster etc.

The amount of money we spent on electricity is only second to our home bank mortgage. With more electrical devices available in the market, it is fair to say our energy cost will be higher in the near future.

To overcome this issue, many people are turning to alternative energy sources such as solar and wind power to reduce their home electricity bill. Those that have the budget will engage a professional contractor to build the system for them. Those that do not have the fund try to build it via Do It Yourself (DIY) approach.

If you are building the home green energy system on your own, you will need a design blueprint and an instruction guide. One of such guide available on the internet is the Green DIY Energy program.

What is Green DIY Energy? The program is actually more than just an information manual. Its Unique Selling Proposition (USP) is the high quality videos.

Other similar guides have instructional videos, but the content are not very comprehensive and the quality is substandard at most. The videos in the Green DIY Energy members’ section are high definition and produced with a professional film crew.

In total, there are 6 instructional videos that will show you the process of building your own solar panels and wind turbine. The videos cover topics such as tools and material preparation, frame construction, soldering the solar cells, wire connection, final panel assembly and full system testing.

There was a movie before where fledging companies in common office parks and deep-pocketed shareholders group research labs in Silicon Valley hunting for world-changing technologies and the promise of untold earnings. A few extremely buzzed stock offerings explode in to the market long ago when the immense Wall Street hype machine starts to crank into mechanism. The sector was said as the Next Big Thing in the business magazines. Far away, there was a spoilsport talk about a bubble eventually going out of order.

This time with the green tint, the shades of the dot-com bubble and bust cycle are seen again in Wall Street. Green technology industrialist has succeed in producing billion of dollars in venture capital because of the media blitz about the danger of global warming combined with the tremendous increase in oil prices over the earlier years. Stock investors become scared and overstressed by searching for chances in the down commercialize. A swift look at the Wall Street current favorite shares of the First solar is descriptive. With a competitive value to match, the thin-film solar cell maker made caption as “Google of solar”. It strikes up to 900 percent since the start of 2007 with a share of $288 on July16. Another thin-film player Energy Conversion Devices saw their shares tremendously shoot up to 100 percent this year.

Stimulate the fire. Although a company is originating wind, advanced bio fuels, solar or any number of rising clean-energy technologies, it is difficult to compete on a long term case against green stocks of the mixture of investor’s interest, global economics and the approaching of pro-green turn by Uncle Sam. That sort of extreme hopefulness itself is a precondition for a bubble.

Before a bubble goes inactive, plenty of money can be earned but this has a long way to go. The senior research director of the Cleantech Group Brian Fan says,” We’re still in the very, very early stage of the game”. “There isn’t a bubble. I think it’s a function of fact that there are too few chances for depositors and there is too much requirements and cravings for exposure to these technologies if valuation in traded sectors is out of order.

Market size is a convincing reason to snatch up shares for Chinese stockers, it also apply the same for green investors. The sheer magnitude of the energy market and the minimal *********** of anyone from green technology are most often boosters tout. At present, 1.5 percent of American electricity produces from renewable sources.

Established venture capital funds like Klener Perkins, Caufield & Byers and Khosla Ventures headed by Sun Microsystems cofounder Vinod Khosla are dispersing vast bets around on a astonishing variety of start-ups in Silicon valley. According to Cleantech Group, in the second quarter phase, around $2 billion of cash gush into the sector overreaching $1.8 billion inflow in the third quarter of 2007. Once markets betters and start-ups begin going public again in full strength, watch the VC funds expenditures for new investment ideas.

The support from U.S. government will soon be improving too. The next administration will be more tolerant to green technology than the present one according to everyone. A $300 million prize is being offered to anyone who can create a battery enough to power a car by John McCain meanwhile Barrack Obama in his economic plan had made investing in clean energy as a core element. Creating a carbon emission cap-and-trade system are both nominees aims but by applying new technologies is an event for green-tech firms as corporations would rush to meet new pollution policy.

Make Mine mini. How should depositors play the bubble? A bunch of mini bubbles in various subsectors would constantly perk up, bubble and pop rather than one mega bubbles need to be understood by investors.

So far, that has been the prototype. In 2005, for example, Ethanol makers saw a vast leap after a huge round of venture funding. For a short term in 2006, Pacific Ethanol (endorse by Microsoft’s Bill Gates before his venture arm begin promoting last year) jumped from $10 a share to $40.the trading is under $2 today. A fuel cell maker, Ballard Power System that symbolizes the primary big run up in project investing in battery sector hopes to win the competition to power the auto sector by rolling to $120 a share. Earlier this year, the trades is at $4 today by putting up for sale its automotive fuel cell business to Daimler and Ford. Meanwhile, VeraSun have seen their shrae sinking for years.

SunPower and Suntech power Holdings are solar companies that have plunged more than 40 percent this year on worries about high value of poly silicon and subsidy cuts used to make conventional solar cells. (First Solar increase happens in part because if\t fails to use the stuff to make its cells). A senior research analyst (Ted Sullivan) at Lux research says that “advanced bio-fuels are starting to recover”, companies are still trading at 100-200 times and the solar is on its way down.” Demand are increasing for ways to hold all the energy developed using greener means and the subsequently miniboom will be in batteries or other storage technologies says Sullivan.

Concisely, green is going to see some acme and valleys. Even with this year’s immerse, analyst who are obsessed with the sectors long term process are not worried with the industries big earnings since 2004 near-term noise. An analyst in Signal Hall, Michael Carboy says that” In the next few years, people will not be grateful of how the solar will be and the role products will have worldwide in the energy of infrastructures. Over the next two years, indication of failing to recognize the chances that solar industry present to the investment societies. Publics will regret not having solar stocks in two to three years time.

The most reputable corner of the green sector, wind power looks less unpredictable with most of the markets in hand of gigantic roles like Siemens, Spain’s Gamesa and General Electric. A consultancy called Emerging Energy Research predicts that in between 2007 to 2020, the wind industry is increasing rapidly at 15 percent yearly rate. Unlike the rest of the market which manage to reverberate, a wide group of green stock, The Cleantech Index, collapsed early this year. Evaluate with a year ago, it was up.

What is the reason that could disrupt the green optimism? The cost of crude oil is the first vague. For the green company’s share this year, where the recent run is nearly to $150 a barrel, it has been only a soft tail wind for them. Even if oil prices fall back, the same can’t be applied for the green stocks. Investing in the oil industry this year will bring enormous gains than most green depositors. The gas exploration exchange-traded fund and iShares oil has improved about 5 percent this year. For 2008, most green ETF’s are in the red.

Switching promises by governments is a huge concern which eventually pays for renewable today. New carbon-friendly technologies basically can’t contend on the value of burning coal or fossil fuels regardless current development. National plans in Spain, Germany and U.S. investment tax-credit stays on uncertain factors of the industries destiny, until that the government subsidies. There will be a tight bad shakeout when all the hype and investors eagerness bidding shares to extreme level. We’re not there yet and not even near to it.

WIND ENERGY

Bigger windmills mean lower cost per kWh. Therefore the mainstream of the market is 2-3 MW (Mega Watt = 2000-3000 kW peak capacity) windmills. Their average yield is up to 1 MW, depending on wind conditions.

However, big systems also bring big problems with them: complexity of installation, accessibility, maintenance. But moreover, they require a very “strong” net (mains). Currently, even strong nets can not handle more than 25-30 % participation of the big systems. The worst case scenario must be considered: maximum wind output at lowest power requirement at any time. In the western world, due to industrialization, the difference between minimum use and average use is not that big, but it reduces the wind *********** anyway. As the average and maximum yield differ substantially, this further reduces the wind ***********. The big systems have (costly) options to waste energy into dummy loads in extreme cases, but practically, the maximum wind *********** is around 10% of the average power use, In Western hemispheres this is currently also seen as a practical limit because of the limitations to place wind mills on land (people do not like the view). Ten percent, as useful as it is, is not even covering the growth of energy use.

For the big windmills the best option to expand is offshore wind parks. Advanced control systems will need to intelligently switch towers on and off or better: use storage for the excess energy. When this is perfectly implemented, 25-30% of the average use can be wind energy. The Netherlands is one of the countries focusing on offshore wind parks. Recently the world’s second largest offshore wind park was commissioned. The latest development from Norway are floating windmills, tied to the bottom of the sea.

I installed the first windmill in the Caricom (Eastern Caribbean islands) at Paradise Bay, a hotel and resort community in Grenada. The owners of the villas and the resort enjoy savings of up to 20%, while the electricity company also saves on energy cost. This is a clear case that serving the environment can be even profitable. The windmill will be commissioned later this year.

In smaller markets -such as the Caribbean- big is not as beautiful as in the West as the nets are relatively small and the infrastructure to install and maintain the big systems is limited. A company from the Netherlands (www.mainwind.nl) recognized this gap and delivers solutions in the form of used mid-range windmills (250-750 kW) that come from upgraded wind parks. The need for upgrading is obvious; it is most easy to increase capacity to the now current technology (2 – 3MW) at already existing wind parks. The smaller windmills are taking down, completely revised (reconditioned) and are sold with an as-new warranty and optionally with a 15 year all-inclusive maintenance contract. The cost per kWh is competitive with larger windmills, typically between 7-9 US$ cents; 5-6 times lower than the mains.

While this is a very lucrative investment, local bankers seem to have cold water fear, so there is an opportunity here for those who want to please both the environment and their wallet!

SOLAR

Photovoltaic systems used to be only suitable for small-scale energy requirements. This is changing thanks to increasing production and subsidized use by western governments, Currently PV solar can not compete with wind energy, but on the long term drastic improvements are to be expected. A long term vision that new houses are covered wit solar roofs is getting within sight.

Solar systems have the advantage of low maintenance (only cleaning) and can also save some cost by replacing traditional roofing systems.

In the Caribbean, PV solar systems are already getting close to the cost of generating electricity from fossil sources because of the intense sunshine and high cost of diesel, Once the production cost of PV solar systems further decreases, they will create savings for their owners. This will likely induce a massive breakthrough.

An even more awarding source of solar energy in the Caribbean is the solar water heater. They produce abundant hot water and the installed cost can be as low as 800 US$ for a 50 gallon system. In many cases they pay for themselves in 2-3 years. Yet, they are far from popular. Awareness is the issue,

An aspect specific to solar systems in the Caribbean is protection against hurricanes. In affected areas, proper measures need to be taken. PV systems should best be covered with plywood panels, ready to fit. Solar water heaters should either be covered or taken out in case of a hurricane. While all this requires attention in designing the setup, the good news is that the related cost is not significant.

HYDRO

Using water force as an energy source is not new. Some countries, such as Canada, rely heavily on hydro power. Clearly, the availability is limited to specific areas. And to make efficient use of hydro power, the scale must be sufficient. While the contribution of hydro is important, it is not expected to belong to the main stream in terms of aggressive growth of green energy on a global basis. In the Caribbean, there are options but cost may be a prohibitive factor.

GEOTHERMAL

Earth heat bases on the 9000

World today is experiencing energy revolution. Environmental issues are catching up and with the increased emphasis placed on preserving the environment we all need to play our roles in saving energy. By saving energy, we can definitely take a positive step in fighting the climate change and in preserving non-renewable sources of energy. Let us look at some devices and measures that can help us conserve energy and replace non renewable sources with renewable sources of energy.

Many companies are now providing customer-focused energy equipments like Energy savers, Utility Instruments, Level Controllers, Control Panels and Process Control Equipments etc. Various products that are now placed in the shelves of the store and that help in energy revolution and conservation are:

o Integrated Intelligent Home System:

This provides you with home security, control, automation and communication related features. One can control and monitor their home and office security along with controlling the home appliances and lighting from any telephone, keypad, handheld remote control system, computer or the internet. The products have outstanding remote communication features which can allow you to communicate with visitors when they are still at office doors, you can send them your messages and can also hear their messages. In case there is alarm notification, you can listen to different sounds and the activity present in the surroundings.

o Light and Air -conditioner Energy Saver:

These devices are normally very easy to install and help to save energy directly. They can adjust the temperature by automatically realizing the self-motion adjustment. They do not connect to any circuitry in the AC. They have stable capacities and do not get affected by fluctuations in external temperature. Trouble from these energy saver devices do not harm or affect the functioning of your equipment in any way. The devices are shock proof and help you reduce your power requirement by minimum 20%.

o Green Energy Products

Today, you would find an array of Green products in the market. Green products and appliances include energy saving appliances and devices for your office and home, windows/doors utilizing solar energy and household products built out of eco-friendly materials. Fluorescent light bulbs are another light saving devices utilizing minimum amount of electricity per watt. All these energy saver products positively influence the environment and reduce the energy and electricity costs. They also reduce the emission of pollutants in the long-term.

Other products like energy saving remote control made out of plastic are also available for saving energy in your day to day use.

Benefits of using Energy saving & Intelligent Products:

o Uses 75% to 80% less electricity.

o Cost less and work too well

o Reduce dependence on coal and petroleum

o Help to address concerns of global warming

o Reduce the gasoline and electricity bills

o Reduce the green house gas emission levels

Overall, reduced energy usage means that the need to go for building new transmission lines, infrastructure and other related devices can be delayed and prolonged. Hence, one can defer the environmental concerns and issues, if not have complete removal. All the energy saving programs and devices will reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emissions made by coal utilizing power plants. Emissions up to an average of around 2.1 billion pounds per year can be saved for around 20 years

So, when we are aware of these things, why not head on the way to conserving energy!

There are hardly any people that have not thought about or desired they could change to green power for their houses. It makes logic to stop and reflect on the advantages and disadvantages of green power, and other energy resources as you investigate the disadvantages and advantages.

Firstly, think about the surroundings. Changing and moving to green solar energy resources from a conservative green power supply is a distinct advantage when you consider the atmosphere. First the ecological advantages are based on the consequences on the world. Human beings are presently using an enormous amount of the world’s natural energy resources such as gas and coal as we work, live, and run our life. We rely heavily on the non-renewable fossil energies that the earth has taken a lot of years to come up. Human beings will not be able to refill these natural energy resources. This fact only has to be seen as an enormous pro in moving towards using solar energy and green power.

Solar energy gets its foundation from the sun. For the reason that the sun will go on to radiate its power for billions or millions of years, the emission is well thought-out to be a renewable reserve. The sun is an authoritative star in our entire solar-system and the probable life period of the sun is indistinct in human-being terms. Fuel funds like petroleum and coal have a fairly accurate exhaustion date of 70 years.

There is a disadvantage when taking into consideration solar systems for your house. The disadvantage is the preliminary cost of purchasing and fixing the solar energy system. Now that we have got the disadvantage out of the sight let’s us get back to the advantages. The savings that one might make utilizing solar power are extraordinary. You might pay for the preliminary instillation within years possibly with the dollars you will bank. Which depends on how much energy your house utilizes, there may be no energy bill to make payment for, or a very petite sum to give to your power company. Additionally, if you produce more energy than you utilize, the power corporation will pay you for the power you provide back to them.

When weighing the advantages and disadvantage of solar energy it is significant to reveal a few more of the down-sides of this basis of power. There requires to be a big enough region for the panels from the solar to be set up so that there can be enough power produced. If your house has a top, you are equipped; however a public housing resident would not be able to set up enough solar panels to generate a solar power system if they were permitted to use the complete roof. Bad weather and pollution will influence the level of power produced. There will be no power generated at nighttime, so some type of back-up energy unit will be required.