Converting to Or Building a Solar Powered Home - What Are Your Choices?

There are many different things to consider when converting or building a solar powered home. There are basically three different methods - passive solar design, solar hot water and Photovoltaic Panels (PV panels).

Passive solar design is really about planning the layout of your home to maximize sun exposure to provide maximum heat and light from the sun. Are you looking for solar charge controller 12v ? This is typically done by building your house so that it has a full southern exposure, installing as many windows on the south side of the house as possible, and using a flooring material that can absorb and hold heat for long periods of time, typically stone, brick, ceramic, etc.

Solar hot water systems use various methods to heat your water in the sun, then pump it back into your house. A common method is to coil black hose on your roof. The water is pumped up into the hose and it warms as it flows through the black tubing in the sun then it flows back down into your house or your swimming pool. Another method is to use the solar collectors on the roof. These are made of glass tubes with copper ends. The principle is similar - the water is pumped up to the collector panels, heated and then pumped back down to a hot water tank.

PV Panels are used to collect energy from the sun to be converted to household power and stored for future use or be fed back to the grid. The standard PV panel system consists of the panels, a bank of batteries for storing the power and converters that convert the stored DC power to usable AC current to power the lights, appliances and other electrical items in your solar powered home.

Whether you choose to use one or all of these methods in your solar powered home, you will be saving a lot of money on energy costs as well as reducing your carbon footprint. Depending on which technology you decide to use, and whether you choose a professional installation or a DIY project will determine your initial costs. A professional installation is still very expensive, while a do-it-yourself installation can be started for as little as $250. If you are interested in learning how you can convert to a solar powered home yourself, be sure you get a good DIY Solar Guide. This will save you a ton of headaches and money. Building your own system is not difficult, but you need a good DIY Manual to make sure you get it right.

To learn more about energy storage, see portable storage containers