Build Own Solar Panel

If people started vowing not to buy another car until they can buy an affordable 100% electric car would you make the same commitment? Imagine, filling your car up for less then $5.00 of electricity at home (or completely free with solar panels on your home). People are already doing it! Never going to the gas station again. And no longer being controlled by the oil companies.

heeeeeeeeeeeeelllllllllllllllllllllllno.

one…if you’re green enough to buy a car that runs solely on electricity, and live close enough to your job to make a successful roundtrip commute with the limited range of an all electric car, just frickin take your bike! good for you and the environment and i wont have to deal with you clogging up the highway barely getting up to the speed limit.

two…the idea of electric cars is the biggest joke on environmentalists everywhere. kudos if you can charge your car with your own solar cell, but for everyone else, guess where all that energy comes from? FOSSILE FUELS! and with everyone driving an all-electric car, electric companies could wipe their asses with the profits

Hi every1.

I wanted to ask, especially for those of you who have solar panels installed on your home, roughly how much energy do you actually get out of those? Is it enough to power your whole house? If not, how much of a saving (in the long term) are you actually looking at by implementing solar panels?

Thanks heaps.

How much energy any array puts out per year depends on the size of that array, its location, and how well the install was done.

Our array is about 3 kW, and produces about 6000 kWh per year. This is roughly equal to our annual consumption of electricity. But we’re in a nearly ideal area.

I want for my new house to be self-reliable on electricity. I’m not sure if solar panels would be enough because where I am we have full winter time.

Hey No Name, you’ve got some good responses here, but to address the core of your question, we have been running our home on wind and solar for 11 years now. We’ve made some changes over the years, had a few setbacks and malfunctions, but overall we are very happy with it. If you live in a place with full winter, your climate is probably like ours. Where we live, our solar resources are exceptional in the summer with long sunny days, but dismal in the winter. Wind however is just the opposite, great in fall and winter, limited in summer. This is why most renewable homes use both solar and wind, the two compliment each other so well. There are other considerations though. In 11 years I’ve not put a drop of oil into or turned a screw on any of my panels, they still put out the same power today they did 11 years ago. The wind turbine however is another story. We’re actually on our third unit, and for 7 years it has worked pretty well. Turbines are like cars. If you don’t maintain them, they break down. If you do maintain them, they break down later. They make noise, and can be a sight to behold or an eyesore to weather, depending on your point of view. Probably a good reason to check with your neighbors ahead of time. Another misnomer about solar is it needs heat to work. Actually, it is just the opposite, solar panels put out more power the colder it is, you can check with the manufacturers on that.

We spent $13,000 on our original equipment, then received around $3,700 in grants and tax incentives. Our electric bills today come in around $6 per month, as opposed to the 30 or 40 dollars they used to be. Are we money ahead? Probably not, but this does not address the fact that our home has not been without electricity for even a minute the last 11 years, difficult to put a price tag on that. But even if our energy costs more this way, we’re okay with it. Lots of people grow tomatoes, even though it’s cheaper to buy them in the store. They hunch over in the garden picking worms off the plants, weeding, and fussing for weeks. Why? It’s a hobby, they taste better, they are organic, and so on. We just grow electrons in our garden, so when I do a load of laundry, I’m not adding CO2 to the air and mercury to the lake. Does it save me any money? No, but it’s still worth it to us.

Your question is pretty broad based, and it will be difficult to get a complete answer here. What I would suggest is you do some more research, and try to make it to one of the many energy fairs that are hosted all over the country. We did 12 years ago, and it got us to where we are today. There are some great non profit groups advocating and researching in this area, I’ll list some below. I would also recommend subscribing to Home Power Magazine, it’s inexpensive and gets right to the heart of what you are trying to find out. Each issue has articles on people like us, what they have done and how it has worked out. Our home was even featured about 9 years ago. They also keep a calender of all the energy fairs. Do some more research, keep asking questions, and get to a fair, you’ll be an expert in no time. Take care Noname, Rudydoo

http://cgi.ebay.com/SOLAR-PANEL-120-WATT-120W-12-VOLT-PV-Solar-Module-/310306871619?_trksid=p5197.m263&_trkparms=algo%3DRPSI%252BSIC%26itu%3DUCP%252BUA%252BMAGEXP%252BUCI%252BIA%252BFICS%252BUFI%26otn%3D10%26pmod%3D270733194145%26po%3DLPV%252BLVI%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D8497966210962221812

thats an example of a Solar Panel… say I were to buy.. 3 of them, which would be a little over $1k. How much power would that generate through my home? Enough to power a TV? A microwave? Maybe the kitchen lights?

And how long would that take for it to pay for myself and start saving me money.

A friend lives on an island where they pay 50c/kWh for electricity. Solar panels are very cost effective for him. Another friend lives in WA state where her power is 5c/kWh. Not such a good deal there unless the grid fails and she really needed electricity enough to buy backup batteries. I live over a mile from the nearest power line- it would cost me hundreds of thousands to run a line to my house so solar is not just an option but a necessity for me.

My husband and I are about to make an investment to make our own solar panels for our home. He is the mechanical end in terms of sealing and mounting the panels and I am the technical side. My question is this.. have any of you bought the cells themselves in bulk form and soldered them yourself? What company is a good one (price-wise/ease of assembly/high quality) to purchase the cells from? I have found quite a few online companies to purchase from and am curious as to what kind of results you had before I make this choice.

I have a strong background in electronics and have a good understanding of how it all works in terms of converting your home so technical jargon is OK in your explanation. Please be specific!

The Earth4Energy kit suggests one of those popular alternative energy devices that prove to drop home energy costs by 50-80%. The kit also shares information on where to purchase free batteries required for your project. These batteries store the alternative energy making it a portable energy resource. You can take them anywhere, for any use!

Even if they don’t provide it for free, why not at a significantly discounted rate, and then make it ‘compulsory’ for every home to have one installed?

The up-side for consumers;
- free electricity
- less pollution
- job creation (manufacturing of the solar panels)
- job creation (installation of these panels)
- job creation (maintenance of the panels)

So yes, we’ll have to pay for them, but at a discounted rate, which could be split over 12 months by your local municipality. If you think of your current electricity bill, over 12 months, does it not make financial sense to pay a small fee like that over 12 months to get free electricity for all, for life?
@Dave Mar - You’re an idiot. You’re already forced to pay for your electricity. If you don’t, it gets cut off. So what would be the issue with spending that same money you would have spent anyway, towards solar panels, so that after a year or so, you’re no longer bound to anyone for electricity?

Geez…….

The government’s funding is provided by taxpayers, many of whom are not interested in such an "investment". You cannot make the purchase of panels (or health insurance for that matter) mandatory and stay within the confines of the constitution.
The downside for consumers:
-The electricity they generate is far from free. Rolled up cost over 10 years with maintenance is most likely higher than just generating the conventional way/
- Manufacturing ANY product creates waste and thus pollution. Panels are no exception.
- Job creation is mostly for the people who make the automated machinery that creates panels. When the machines are complete, few people are needed to make panels
- The premise of buying, installing and maintaining at a discount necessitates that wages be low for those who produce, maintain and install panels. That’s a lose-lose deal for all.

Bottom line, if you feel they are a great investment, do so at your expense not at the expense of already overtaxed citizens.

Hi,

I want to buy a town house in Bay area (San Jose, SFO). But my question is can we install solar panels on my roof?

Is it allowed? Or roof is part of HOA maintenance program? What is the law states here?

Is a single family home is the only way to install solar panels?

Thanks for your help.
UPDATED QUESTION:

Can i install on my backyard at least?

Look up AB2473 - The California Solar Rights Act. That removed most of the barriers to installing solar on any property you own. If you had a detached home, even in a gated community with a homeowner’s association, you have a good chance of getting solar even if the HOA doesn’t like it.

The problem with a townhome is that you don’t own the roof. Before you buy, have a cordial conversation with the president of the HOA, to get an idea of how they feel about this sort of thing. If they don’t like it, I wouldn’t fight. Even if you win legally, your neighbors will give you dirty looks for being a troublemaker. But you might be surprised. This IS the bay area, after all, pretty liberal.

I am considering starting a solar/wind energy business. I would like to know how many people would really consider installing solar panels and/or a wind generator on their home or business.

If a complete system is too costly, would you consider a battery back-up system to run essential items in you home or business for when the power drops out? This would consist of 4-12 batteries, a couple of solar panels and/or a wind generator. This would operate items such as lights, well pump, refrigerator, radio or TV, telephones, and computers.

Would you consider starting a small solar array (4-6 panels) and adding panels to it when you have extra money to spend on them?

Please give me your feedback on what you think of "GREEN" energy and if you think it is the future or just a fad.
Good answers so far. In response to f100_supersabre, A 4 battery system is not much. It all depends on what you will operate and how long. The more batteries the better. About the telephone, yes they are powered by the telephone line but businesses usually have multiple lines with a switching station that needs electricity to operate. Most homes now only have cordless phones which require electricity. If you keep a corded phone in your home this would be a non factor. When it comes to the size panels and wind generator that is relevant to your power consumption. What might be good for your house may be too big or too small for your neighbor.

Keep the answers coming.

I will go for it provided the economics is atleast the same as present. Some incovenience I can take it up like some interruptions etc for the sake of environment protection.
But if the cost is going to be higher then I am not interested. There are several things which I can forego like using an air con etc to help the environment at the present. So it boils down to dollars.