Does anybody know if there is any federal assistance available in the form of loans or grants to set up a windmill or solar paneling in a private residential house?
Not Federal yet. There are some state sponsored grants….
I’m not sure what’s my roof is made of, could be clay or concrete or decra. But you know this material absorb heat and subsequently travel all the way down into the house, that makes a house hot. Nevertheless, thought of going green, if i replace my roof with solar panel/cell, does it also make my home less hot since it does not absorb heat as much as conventional roof (solar cells are suppose to absorb light, right?)
From a purely theoretical standpoint, the solar energy that your panels convert to electricity can’t make your house hotter.
From a practical standpoint, the solar panels will shade the roof somewhat, especially if they are mounted on some kind of support a couple of inches above the roof plane.
Hard to say how much of an effect this would have.
Im looking at making a solar power system to power my portable devices. I am looking at making my own kit. I know I need a solar panel, a 12v battery, and a power inverter.
Does can the solar panel have a wattage rating of more or less than the inverter and do I need a device to manage the battery’s charge.
I also plan on using it to power some larger devices such as a small non-portable tv.
I still can’t understand why people want to build solar energy projects when there is a much cheaper, and reliable alternative that works 24/7 requires no light and is 100% clean energy.
I want to introduce you to Magnetic Power Generators if you don’t already know what that is. it’s power generated from spinning magnets. I think this would be in my honest opinion more fun for you to build and power your gadgets with, I have one I use for my camping trips, works great to keep my cell phone and laptop fully charged.
By all means build a solar panel since that was your original idea, but if you are low on funds I recommend you give this a shot, you will be amazed when you see those magnets spinning and your gadgets charging 24/7.
I have created a solar panel made from copper and aluminum that produces .5 volts. I would like to connect multiple panels and power an LED or something similar. Thanks.
connecting them in series should give you the same amps, but boost your voltage. Most LEDs run on 1.5-3volts.
We are moving to a remote location without any electricity, and would like to produce our own. We have read that it is pretty easy to set up solar power, and there are ready-made solar generators for sale. If we build our own, how many solar panels would we need to comfortably power a small cabin, and what other materials will we need to set it up? About how much will this all cost?
A solar electric system consist of in simplest terms a panel, charge controller, battery, and a load "lights, radio, etc". This system can be expanded on.
The first item you need to consider is the loads, what do you want them to be. How much energy do they consume per hour and how many hours a day are they used. The next is the voltage of the items 12volt dc, 24 volts dc, 120 volts ac. In general 120 volt ac itmes are easier to obtain but in general less effeciant but also have longer life spans then the 12 and 24 volt dc versions.
Example we use 1 light bulb that consumes 20 watts at 12 volt for 4 hours a day. This buld would need 20*4=80 watts of energy per day. Next lets say you had 5 of these light bulbs and they were all used the same amount every day, you would need 80*5=400 watts to run these lights. Next lets say you want 2 days of reserve enegy incase it rains or something 400 *2=800 watts.
These 2 figures help give us the panel and battery size. Lets look at the panels first. we determind we needed 400 watts per day. Look around on the interent and you will find a chart with hours a day of sun light for your area. Lets say your area get 2.5 hours of direct sun per day in the worst time of year you would need 400/2.5=160 watts of panels.
The next figure is the 800 watts of battery. You never want to discharge your battery more than 40% this will reduce your battery life. So lets do the math again. (800/40)*100=2000
Now lets assume your battery back is 12 volts 2000/12=167 amp hour back.
So your system would consist now of 160 watts of solar panels 167 amp 12 volt battery bank a charge controller mounting system for the panels, box for the batteries, and an small fuse or breaker panel to protect all the equipment.
This would be a very simple system but if you wanted to add tv’s radios computer etc. you need to do the load calcs on them add them all together and do the math. Don’t just go out and buy a system someone off the internet sales you it may not be right for what you need.
Something else you will need to see the sun most of the day no shading of the panels. Good luck solar is great.
Clip from James May’s Big Ideas where bunch of hippies burn and melt stuff with their ’solar furnace’, oh and it has something to do with making petrol out of thin air.
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Safety, Safety, Safety. And no one is better at the Hands-On instruction than Jose Preciado…the Academy’s OSHA Safety Instructor.
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Follow Steve Thomas as he checks out a net zero house that generates all its own energy using solar panels. Watch more at http://planetgreen.discovery.com/tv/renovation-nation/
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http://www.greenpowerscience.com/SHOPSTIRLINGENGINES.html
This is a new design I found, they work with a Fresnel Lens or a Parabolic Mirror. Strong and efficient for its size. About 15-40 watts.
We have been trying different videos and had a run of experiments not going right. Also Florida is very cloudy from June – July, this video took 4 hours to shoot waiting for the clouds.
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www.BrentDelhamer.com talks about Encinitas Schools Continue Getting Green with adding Solar Panels.
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