Solar refers to energy that is collected from the sun. The sun and wind are renewable energy sources that do not produce green house gases that contribute to global warming. Once the components needed to collect the sun’s energy are assembled, solar energy is a free and non-polluting source of power. Currently, there are both State and Federal rebate programs that can lower the total installation cost by more than 1/2. For a typical home there are basically three types of solar energy systems commonly used. Passive solar energy, photovoltaic (PV) solar energy, and solar domestic hot water systems. Wind turbines or generators are also becoming very common for suitable sites.

Passive solar energy utilizes the sun’s energy to heat, cool, and light a building without any moving parts. There are not any mechanical or electrical components of a passive solar system. Basically all houses are solar. The question is how does your house utilize the available energy from the sun? All home designs and types of construction can benefit from basic passive solar energy principles. Site orientation, properly sized roof overhangs, and window size and location are simple design factors that can greatly affect a homes heating and cooling bill. A home situated with its long axis running east and west can benefit the most from passive solar.

The ideal orientation for a solar house is with its long axis perpendicular to true south. Within 20 degrees of true south, the cost in solar gain is minimal, but as the orientation shifts more drastically, the house will significantly lose solar benefits.

Roof overhangs on the south of a building can keep the summer sun out and allow the winter sun in. Too many windows on the west side are hard to shade from the intense western sun without providing large covered porches or some other means to block the hot afternoon sun. A balance must be struck between the amounts of window glazing, your views, and the additional heating or cooling windows can provide. Properly designed roof overhangs help with cooling in the summer and heating in the winter.

Photovoltaic (PV) solar systems utilize the sun’s energy to produce electricity for your home or recreational vehicle (RV). The photovoltaic process is a direct conversion of sunlight into DC electricity. That DC electricity can be used directly to power appliances and can be stored in batteries for later use. By installing an inverter on a PV system the DC electricity can be converted into AC electricity that can be utilized in the home and sent back to the utility company to lower your electric bill. Optimum efficiency from a home’s photovoltaic solar system requires that the PV panels be oriented true south and be set at an angle equal to the latitude for the site (for a stationary system). Increased efficiency can be obtained by mounting the panels on a tracking system that follows the sun. This type of system requires motors and moving parts and could require a technician to lower the tilt angle of the panels in the summer and raise the tilt angle of the panels in the winter.

Optimum orientation (azimuth and tilt angle) for stationary (fixed) PV panels in Steamboat Springs, Colorado would face true south (0 degrees azimuth angle) and 40 degrees tilt up from the ground plane. This example shows the PV panels incorporated into the roof. The south facing roof has a 10:12 pitch (great for shedding snow yet very steep for roofers). Mounting brackets can be used to raise PV panels off the roof and set the proper tilt angle.

A home photovoltaic solar system can consist of PV modules, a charge controller, storage batteries, a synchronous inverter, the existing AC load center (panel box), and the main service panel containing the utilities disconnect and meter. Storage batteries are only required if the home is not connected to the grid or if the homeowner desires an additional source of power if the utility grid shuts down.

The best advantage to solar and wind power is that they are renewable energy sources that do not contribute to global warming.

Solar domestic hot water systems are active systems in which water or antifreeze is circulated from a solar collector through a storage reservoir. The water in the reservoir or storage tank is heated by the circulated fluid and reduces the homes gas or electric consumption for water or space heating. Water that is heated by the sun is especially cost effective for spas and swimming pools. Proper care and maintenance of these systems must be utilized in order to prevent leaks and bursting pipes.

To learn more about solar and how to fund your project contact me at:

http://www.EmptyNesterBiz.com/

I wanted to do a review on another Do It Yourself (DIY) home renewable energy guide on the Internet. E-book called Green DIY Energy system.

I read a couple of reviews on the creation of renewable energy sources such as solar and wind systems. Are they really practical and someone could build one with a step-by-step instructional book.

What to expect from Green Energy DIY
Before you finish reading this review DIY green energy, you should understand this. Guide will not be completely reduce your home energy bill for the night. This will not reduce it by half. 5 or 10 percent probability.

Therefore, I must tell you about having the right to wait for the results that you get from e-book.

5 good reasons to get DIY green energy
It works! Thousands of people have successfully built their own solar power (over 4000 sold every month!) Savings – You save money when you do not have to spend $ thousands of dollars on “Retail Solar System Go Green – reduce your carbon footprint and help the environment Energy conservation – you can cut your energy bills in half, or even completely eliminate them! It’s fun – just wait until your friends and family to see that you have created!

Green DIY Energy Guarantees

With the Green Energy DIY is available under Clickbank, you are covered by their 60-day money back guarantee policy.

If you do not see any value in the electronic book, you have the right to demand their money back within 60 days from the date of purchase. This added cost, since it removes all the risks associated with the buyer.

In addition, make sure GreenDIYenergy.com should create a good value or they will have a higher rate of return.

But after checking the statistics Clickbank, Green DIY Energy E-book has a minimum rate of return. This is a good sign!

Green DIY Energy Overview

Here’s my final thought. Most people want to reduce their home energy bill, but many people do not have the skill nor the time to build your own solar panels or wind turbines.

In this case, it would be a better idea to outsource the work of professional contractors.

As a homeowner, you should be careful. You should know some basic information about the science of renewable energy sources. At least you’ll know when you will pay for unnecessary parts of your home.

If you are looking for a good e-books on home solar or wind energy systems, green DIY energy will do just fine. Read complete Green DIY Energy review

Is the Green DIY Energy guide for building solar panels a scam? The owner of this system claims that it has helped him save more money by harnessing free sunlight. This seemed like a really interesting project to me when I first heard it. Even though I was still skeptical, I still went ahead to purchase this and now I am glad that I did.

Making my own solar energy system following the steps in this guide has been very rewarding and fun for me. Not only has it helped me cut down my electric bills significantly, I am also happy to be doing my part in helping to keep the environment clean.

What Are the Main Benefits You Can Expect to Experience by Following the Green DIY Energy Methods?

1. More Savings on Electric Bills

The solar panels can cut down your electricity bills by as much as 80 to 90%. For some people who live in areas that receive a lot of sunlight, they have also been able to sell the excess power that is produced back to the grid company for a profit. These companies that pay you the excess produced use a net metering policy. This means that the extra electric power generated by you can be shared by other users on the grid, and you earn a profit for supplying this electricity.

2. Much More Affordable to Build Compared to Purchasing a Retail Version

Using these plans have made the solar panels a much more worthwhile investment. Buying the panels retail are very expensive and from my calculations, can take a few years before the investment amount is made back. Using Green DIY Energy allowed me to recover my costs in just 2 months.

3. You Will Not Be Affected by Power Outages

In the case of a power outage, your house will continue to receive electricity from the solar systems or from the batteries at night and will not be affected by the outage.

4. Eligible to Claim Tax Credits from the Government

You can start to receive tax credits from the government for using cleaner green energy.

Did you know that you can make your own green energy for less than $200? That is less than it costs to pay for your energy bill every month. Unfortunately, when many people make the decision to go green they don’t know how to do it for a reasonable price. Going green can be cheap but you need to know where to look.

If you wanted to make your own solar panel or wind turbine how would you go about doing it? The task can be very overwhelming which is why many people make bad decisions when trying to make natural energy. For instance, a popular method of creating a natural power source is to have a system professionally installed. You’ve probably seen success stories on TV or even on the internet. Seems like a great way to make your own renewable energy and start saving cash right? Wrong. What you often don’t see in these examples is that having a green energy system professionally installed can cost thousands of dollars.

It would take at least six months for a system like that to pay for itself. So, how is it possible to make natural power at a reasonable price? By finding a reliable DIY green energy guide. A guide will allow you to create clean energy system at a cheap price as well as help you build it very easily and quickly.

A natural energy guide will give you many necessary pieces of information to creating a natural power system at a cheap price. Did you know that many materials needed for building a solar panel can be obtained at no charge? A guide will offer many valuable tips for getting the materials you need for virtually nothing. Do you know how to create schematics for a clean energy system? A guide will also save you hundreds of hours of painstaking research. Everything that you need is right in front of you.

Natural energy is clean, effective, and absolutely free. Why not take advantage of it?

Are you worried about your current and future oil, gasoline, electric and natural gas bills? Would you be willing to try solar panels, wind technology or another renewable energy if you knew by doing so the technologies would eventually pay for themselves by vastly lowered utility bills, tax incentives, rebates and more? Well, they can, and here is a brief recap of what is available through the Federal and your State government.

Did You Know the US Government Can Help? A key part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (more commonly known as the “Stimulus Bill”) involves a variety of energy-tax incentives and funding provisions for alternative energies, focusing on reducing our dependence on fossil fuels and encouraging renewable energy. Under the legislation homeowners will continue to receive 30% off the cost of a home solar power system in the form of a federal tax credit. In addition, the legislation eliminated a prior cap of $2,000 for the tax credit. This is the Federal Government, so the guidelines of what is and is not covered are very strict, there are sites online that summarizes thing very well, including tips on applying for the tax credit when filing your Federal income taxes. In addition to energy efficiency through energy star appliances, new windows, insulation and the like, the incentives provides distinct benefits to those using the following technologies:
Geothermal Heat Pumps Small Wind Turbines (Residential) Solar Energy Systems Solar Panels (Photovoltaic Systems) Fuel Cells (Residential Fuel Cell and Microturbine System)

By the way, many of the same folks in Washington, DC that want to prevent President Obama from stopping handouts to oil companies to research alternative energies (as though their profits and the knowledge that oil is a finite resource aren’t enough) also want to put an end to these incentives. Originally enacted to be in effect into the next decade, they are now scheduled to expire at the end of 2012.

What can you do: Call, email or write your congressman/woman and senators and let them know what you think about it. Believe it or not, many of them DO listen to voters. To find out more about the specific things covered under the program and tips on filing your taxes, visit: (For more information and specifics of the legislation’s energy efficiency/renewable energy incentives, please visit http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=tax_credits.tx_index.

Most States Help As Well Nearly all states have tax or rebate incentives in one form or another that encourage residential and commercial customers to move towards renewable energy, including solar and wind technology. The variety of programs (and what is covered) varies greatly from state to state. While some of these states are recognized to be “sunny” or in the “Sun Belt,” many are not. Here is a partial list of states that have some of the best programs for residential consumers and commercial businesses.
Arizona California Colorado Connecticut Hawaii Maryland Massachusetts Minnesota New Jersey New Mexico Oregon Pennsylvania

What is Specifically Available In Your State? It’s Surprisingly Easy to Find Out! DSIRE, the Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency, “serves as the nation’s most comprehensive, one-stop source of information on federal, state, local, and utility incentives and policies that promote renewable energy and energy efficiency.” DSIRE contains information on more than 2,200 programs and is accessible online for free at http://www.dsireusa.org.*

For all states, DSIRE provides asummary of programs available to residences and businesses as well as individuals to contact for additional information, and where you find details about the programs online. Once you’ve decided that you are really serious about making the move towards renewable energy, you need to get several estimates and get a great contractor. This means a contractor with an impeccable reputation and a strong knowledge of the applicable Federal and State guidelines for energy efficiency and renewable technologies, as well as the mechanics of installing your chosen system. But that’s a story for another time.

* Source: Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency (DSIRE)

copyright 2011, AM McElroy/Solar Flair Lighting