Thin Film Solar Panels – An Exciting Advancement In Solar Technology

The thin film solar panels are one of the newest breakthroughs in the booming solar industry. Compared to their predecessor, they are much thinner and affordable and may well lead to a much wider use of solar energy in the near future.

The working mechanism behind the thin film solar panels is the same as their “thick” counterparts. Both use photovoltaic cells to collect sunlight and convert it into electric current through the interaction between the sunlight and the semiconductor material contained in the PV cells. The electricity thus generated can be put into use right away at your home or office. You can also store it with batteries to back up the power at nights or on cloudy days.

What exactly has enabled the thin film PV cells to work with the same efficiency but at a much reduced cost? The answer is in the semiconductor material. The first generation of solar panels, which are the thick ones that we are all used to seeing, use crystalline silicon as the semiconductor material. Each solar cell is produced on a different silicon wafer, one by one. This is an extremely labor-intensive process, which makes the solar panels unaffordable by mass people.

The semiconductor material used in thin film PV cells, as a contrast, is much thinner and cheaper. What’s better, it can be mass produced with an automated system and thereby cuts down the labor work by 3 times. You can imagine that, with this reduced cost, more and more businesses will be encouraged to enter the manufacturing of solar panels. If this happens, the prices of solar panels will become even more affordable.

There are more exciting applications. With the solar cells being smaller, they are also more light-weighted and can be flexibly placed onto various smaller and light-weight objects. For instance, the solar roof shingles are produced by covering the traditional asphalt roof with a layer of thin file solar cells. Now, instead of holding your solar panel with the large and heavy steel arrays, your solar roof can look almost the same as that of your neighbors.

Portable solar panels are another product of the thin film technology. They are being manufactured to power up just any type of electric appliances, from cell phones, GPS devices, MP3 players, to televisions and laptops. How handy it will be if you can install a solar panel on your backpack or in your purse? You can carry it wherever you go and charge your portable electric devices whenever needed.

If the thin film solar panels still sound to you like a complex technical innovation rather than an easily accessible daily product, don’t worry. Think about the digital watches. They cost dearly a few decades ago, but can be purchased today at a very friendly price. This will be the future of our solar panels!

Portable Solar Power System-Cheapest Portable Solar Power System

Solar power is the energy of the future. Learn how to get the cheapest portable solar power system. A few of the several advantages of solar energy are first and foremost its free, easy to harness and is capable to provide more energy than what is needed by most homes and businesses.

You may be aware that a commercially sold solar panel has its worth in thousands of dollars. But, did you know you can go solar for a fraction of that cost.

Why Go Solar?

Solar panels are made up of small PV cells, also known as photovoltaic cells. The PV cells capture sun light and store it in a battery. The energy stored in the battery is then transformed into usable electricity using an inverter. Solar power is a renewable resource of energy and free to harness once you have installed solar panels.

Installing ready made solar panels can be pretty expensive and can cost you anywhere from $10,000 – $18,000 to solar power you entire home. You can solar power your whole house for a fraction of this amount if you learn how to build portable solar power system on your own. Building these systems from scratch is cheap and easy; all the required raw materials can be easily bought from the local electrical or hardware store. This also cuts down on any further impact on the environment as the solar panels do not go through any manufacturing processes.

Going Solar Is Easy!

Various kits are available to download from different vendors that will teach you to build portable solar power system. The downloaded kits include steps for calculating the actual electricity that you need from solar panels based upon your electricity bills. Once you have that information you can start building your own solar panels, typically you can easily build a 100 watt solar panel in a day very easily.

Now, that’s not something very substantial, but when you can easily redo the whole process over and over again, you can completely go off-grid with a few days of work and perhaps sell back the extra power back to the utility company. Now, how is that for a change? You’ll get a check from the utility provider!

Save Heaps!

Once you install a portable solar power system, it will pay for itself many times over the course of its life. Generally, solar panels have an average lifetime for 25-30 years requiring no to little maintenance. So, you do the math here and calculate how much you are set to save!

“how To: Solar Panel Kit” System © – it Really Works!

At minimal effort and cost, “How To: Solar Panel Kit” System easily enables you to produce your very own power-supply sys. Very quickly you’ll find out that this technique doesn’t require any special tools/materials. If you read this article you’ll be able to learn more about this special technology.

Some background

It all begins with Solar-Panels – the most important element of any “How To: Solar Panel Kit” System, by using one of these popular guides, you’ll be able to assemble them with your own hands. Choosing a guide is probably one of the most important actions you need to take; make sure it offers clear instructions, video tutorials, diagrams, and technical support. This way or another, here are just a few advantage & advices to help you better understand this topic.

Important benefits

Implementing this exciting solution definitely provides many benefits:

* No more power-interruptions.
* Requires no more than a weekend to be installed.
* Can produce 1000 Watts +.
* Uses natural and clean resources.
* It is now amazingly affordable like never before.

Quick tip

Pulling yourself “off the grid” all at once isn’t recommended – do it gradually and slowly, use your new sys. while keeping the ‘Main-Grid’ as backup for possible extreme electricity usage.

Quick summary

In most cases, implementing such technology requires no more than 2-3 days; while the return-on-investment with this “How To: Solar Panel Kit” System takes in average just about few weeks. We could probably come across other benefits provided by this one-of-a-kind invention, simply because it is about to change the entire industry forever. The best advice would be to try it so you could truly see how it can save your monthly budget.

What is Holding Back the Adoption of Solar Generated Electricity in the United States?

The US currently has about 700 megawatts of installed solar panel electricity generation connected to the grid, according to research by the consulting firm, Navigant. This represents less than 1% of all the electricity generated in the US.

Each state controls the speed of solar adoption by heir independent policies. If these policies remain nchanged, generation from solar panels in the US, both commercial and residential generators are expected to grow to 6,000 megawatts by the year 2015.

Three thousand of the 6,000 megawatts will be generated in California. The incentive programs of California are the gold standard among supporters of solar power. Growth in the home solar-power market will not take off until more states adopt favorable net metering rules. The relaxed solar implementation can offset the cost of installing renewable power system and capture electricity that is being loss from the potential solar generation. The Navigant report estimates that an additional 3,000 megawatts of solar panel electricity could be available in the next eight years if the states with solar implementation limitations lifted their caps.

There are eight states that have no net-metering rules. These states are South Dakota, Kansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Florida, Arizona and my own state, South Carolina. A list compiled by New Energy Source lists California, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Maryland receiving the highest scores for solar adaptation with the remaining states of lower scores because of restrictive laws.

As of September 2007, 39 states had adopted some measures of rules to compensate consumers for sending self-generated renewable power to the grid. There is a lot behind the scenes that the states and power generation companies are willing to wage a serious fight to preclude Federal mandates to push solar renewable energy.

In my state of South Carolina, the Santee Electrical Cooperative, which is owned by the state of South Carolina, is proposing a $998 million dollar coal burning generators. The site has been put on hold by the federal government for a deeper study of the environmental impact. Meanwhile, Santee continues the fight with their commissioned study. Their study concludes “$900 million in economic output, $500 million in earnings and 9,300 jobs for South Carolinians” Unfortunately; Santee made no attempt to study the environmental impact or what a combination of renewable/nonrenewable future actions would mean to the state.

The federal renewable fuels bill has been stopped in the US Senate. Southern Co., American Electric Power Co. and other coal fired producers hired top Washington lobbyists, including Rudy Giuliani’s firm, to help defeat a measure that would force them to boost electricity generated by wind, solar and other forms of renewable energy to 15 percent of the U.S. total by 2020. That’s up from less than 2 percent today, and is a move the industry says would cost at least $67 billion. Southern Co. has spent $7.26 million this year lobbying Congress, more than Exxon Mobil Corp. or General Motors Corp., according to the Washington-based Center for Responsive Politics. It hired such firms as Bracewell & Giuliani LLP, where Republican presidential front-runner Giuliani is a partner. The bill would require utilities to obtain 2.75 percent of their power from renewable sources starting in 2010, ramping that up to 15 percent by 2020. Almost one-quarter of the mandate could be met by improving efficiency. Companies that fail to meet the standard would have to pay a penalty to the federal government. The cooperative of Southern Co and other generating companies consider this too high of a barrier and appear to have succeeded to remove the renewable fuel section from the bill going to President Bush.

The average homeowner does not have a vote in adopting renewable fuels electrical generation standards. The battle is being conducted by the state and federal government and powerful electrical generating companies. The problem is that the average homeowner will be the big loser in this struggle. Our major recourse is to write our state and federal representative to adopt measure that we can utilize the potential cost savings and reduces pollution of solar generated electricity.

Our letters to our government representatives should ask for means to:

* Encourage greater renewable-energy generation

* Promote customer-sited distributed generation (wind and solar fuels)

* Reduce demand on an ever increasingly strained grid

* Reward investment in renewable technologies

* Facilitate energy independence

* Improve air quality and public health

* Promote in-state economic development.

Most states that have revised their interconnection and net-metering policies have done so in pursuit of these same goals.

How to build a homemade solar panel – The battery

How to build a homemade solar panel – The battery

The battery “hosts” a certain reversible chemical reaction that stores electrical

energy that can later be retrieved when needed. Electrical energy is

transformed into chemical energy when the battery is being charged, and the

reverse happens when the battery is discharged.

 

A battery is formed by a set of elements or cells arranged in series. Leadacid

batteries consist of two submerged lead electrodes in an electrolytic solution

of water and sulfuric acid.

 

A potential difference of about 2 volts takes

place between the electrodes, depending on the instantaneous value of the

charge state of the battery.

 

The most common batteries in photovoltaic solar

applications have a nominal voltage of 12 or 24 volts. A 12 V battery therefore

contains 6 cells in series.

 

The battery serves two important purposes in a photovoltaic system: to provide

electrical energy to the system when energy is not supplied by the array

of solar panels, and to store excess energy generated by the panels whenever

that energy exceeds the load.

 

The battery experiences a cyclical process

of charging and discharging, depending on the presence or absence of

sunlight. During the hours that there is sun, the array of panels produces

electrical energy. The energy that is not consumed immediately it is used to

charge the battery. During the hours of absence of sun, any demand of electrical

energy is supplied by the battery, thereby discharging it.

 

These cycles of charge and discharge occur whenever the energy produced

by the panels does not match the energy required to support the load. When

there is sufficient sun and the load is light, the batteries will charge. Obviously,

the batteries will discharge at night whenever any amount of power is

required. The batteries will also discharge when the irradiance is insufficient

to cover the requirements of the load (due to the natural variation of climatological

conditions, clouds, dust, etc.)

If the battery does not store enough energy to meet the demand during periods

without sun, the system will be exhausted and will be unavailable for

consumption. On the other hand, the oversizing the system (by adding far too

many panels and batteries) is expensive and inefficient. When designing a

stand-alone system we need to reach a compromise between the cost of

components and the availability of power from the system. One way to do

this is to estimate the required number of days of autonomy.

 

In the case of a telecommunications system, the number of days of autonomy depends on

its critical function within your network design. If the equipment is going to

serve as repeater and is part of the backbone of your network, you will likely

want to design your photovoltaic system with an autonomy of up to 5-7 days.

 

On the other hand, if the solar system is responsible for a providing energy to

client equipment you can probably reduce number of days of autonomy to

two or three. In areas with low irradiance, this value may need to be increased

even more. In any case, you will always have to find the proper balance

between cost and reliability.

 

Types of batteries

 

Many different battery technologies exist, and are intended for use in a variety

of different applications. The most suitable type for photovoltaic applications

is the stationary battery, designed to have a fixed location and for

scenarios where the power consumption is more or less irregular. “Stationary”

batteries can accommodate deep discharge cycles, but they are not designed

to produce high currents in brief periods of time.

 

Stationary batteries can use an electrolyte that is alkaline (such as Nickel-

Cadmium) or acidic (such as Lead-Acid). Stationary batteries based on

Nickel-Cadmium are recommended for their high reliability and resistance

whenever possible. Unfortunately, they tend to be much more expensive and

difficult to obtain than sealed lead-acid batteries.

In many cases when it is difficult to find local, good and cheap stationary batteries

(importing batteries is not cheap), you will be forced to use batteries

targeted to the automobile market.

 

Using car batteries

 

Automobile batteries are not well suited for photovoltaic applications as they

are designed to provide a substantial current for just few seconds (when

starting then engine) rather than sustaining a low current for long period of

time. This design characteristic of car batteries (also called traction batteries)

results in an shortened effective life when used in photovoltaic systems.

Traction batteries can be used in small applications where low cost is the

most important consideration, or when other batteries are not available.

Traction batteries are designed for vehicles and electric wheelbarrows. They

are cheaper than stationary batteries and can serve in a photovoltaic installation,

although they require very frequent maintenance. These batteries

should never be deeply discharged, because doing so will greatly reduce

their ability to hold a charge. A truck battery should not discharged by more

than 70% of its total capacity. This means that you can only use a maximum

of 30% of a lead-acid battery’s nominal capacity before it must be recharged.

You can extend the life of a lead-acid battery by using distilled water. By using

a densimeter or hydrometer, you can measure the density of the battery’s

electrolyte.

 

A typical battery has specific gravity of 1.28. Adding distilled water

and lowering the density to 1.2 can help reduce the anode’s corrosion, at a

cost of reducing the overall capacity of the battery. If you adjust the density of

battery electrolyte, you must use distilled water, as tap water or well water

will permanently damage the battery.

Solar Recreational Vehicles – How To Travel Long Distances On Solar Power

Camping can be a lot of fun and when you take a recreational vehicle (RV) it’s just like living in nature. RVs are used for lots of purposes, such as cross country trips, weekend getaways or just a fun excursion. One thing you need for your RV when you are out is an electrical hookup to get the inside working. If you ever wanted to have freedom to use the electricity anywhere without having to worrying about hookups, consider converting your RV into solar power.

Normally, people use generators when there is not an electrical hookup available. The generators are easy to use but can get costly with fuel prices. The other problem with generators is that they only last for a certain amount of time. With solar power, your RV is only in the need of the sun. You can convert your RV smoothly and cheaply.

There are different ways to get the RV ready to use solar power. You can have it professionally installed, which could be expensive. However, you can set up your RV yourself. All you need to do is purchase a few things. You will need a solar panel and a solar panel mounting bracket. There are companies that make specialty kits available specifically for an RV. The kit will charge the RV batteries that run the inside lights and appliances.

The kits come in different sizes depending on your RV and what size battery you have. Many companies will help in selecting the right size, so if you have any questions talk to the place you are purchasing the solar panel RV kit from. This is a great investment because once the kit is put in place, you don’t have to spend any more money buying fuel for the generator (you still need gas for the vehicle) and wasting electricity. By using solar energy for the inside of the RV, you are doing your part to help the environment. You aren’t using electrical hookups that are needed to run through power plants far away and the generator isn’t spurting out harmful emissions. Solar energy is clean and efficient.

There are add-on options once you get the solar power hooked up. You can also get a Solar Power Ventilator. This is used for small areas, such as the inside of an RV, to circulate the air. This works well on warm hazy days or on a cool fall day when you are just trying to get some fresh air.

It doesn’t take too much power to run the RV because of its size. This is one of the advantages of owning one a solar panel kit. You also don’t have to worry about the panel breaking. The solar panels for RVs are created to withstand most weather conditions. It doesn’t matter if it rains or snows, even heavy winds won’t rip the panel from the roof.

The solar panel RV kit gives people the freedom they have always dreamed of when buying an RV. If you own an RV you never have to worry about where you are going again. You won’t be limited to the areas you visit because there is no electrical hookup or your generator is low on fuel. Solar power allows you to roam the great country or just hideaway for a weekend with nature.

Build Solar Panels – DIY Solar Panel Kits

Prevent victimization daily sources for energy and establish applying renewable resources. Solar energy is among the most beneficial inexhaustible imaginations that you are able to utilize out there, also as one of the most dependable. Though it has been around for quite an couple of years, not too many people around the world technique to apply it, or when should utilize it.

Get Best Make Solar Panel and Make Wind Turbine Guide

The true statement represents that you will be able to use it for all the world. The unsuitable part about it? It is comparatively valuable to buy, still; there are more cost-efficient methods to make solar power – you will be able to build yourself.

Making your own solar panels is simpler than you imagine. You will be able to take almost of the supplying to do it from a hardware store, going for a efficient direction to create access to solar energy. These small solar panels that you establish can be accustomed power matters around the house, specified small gadgets.

Get Best Make Solar Panel and Make Wind Turbine Guide

The greatest benefit to making your own solar panel.
You have the possible to reduce your power prices, besides as bring access to a luxuriousness that is usually fairly expensive. Not just that, simply you get the delight of establishing something that you recognize is adding to the environment through protective energy.

How Effortless is it to set up solar panels?
All you require is a good determine of elaborated directions, your appends, and a few overtime on your hands. You can set up each and everything yourself. The most significant affair about making your personal solar panel is intended that you have an extraordinary set of teachings to pursue. Without these, you may not build the most exterior of the solar panels you establish, but with them, you can amplification the virtually from your solar panels.

Get Best Make Solar Panel and Make Wind Turbine Guide

 

 

“cheap Solar Panel Electrical” System © – Quick Tip!

Looking for a true way that’ll enable you to get rid of these high electricity-bills once and for all? You should definitely consider using this incredible “Cheap Solar Panel Electrical” System. Quite amazingly, this technique provides quick results almost instantly. Read this article right now and find out more and understand how it can help you.

Short background

The ‘secret’ behind this unique “Cheap Solar Panel Electrical” System is about getting one of these special guides that walk you through each and every step on how to easily make Solar-Panels. It is highly important to work with a professional guide; make sure it provides clear information including videos, diagrams, and support. Anyway, here are just a few advantage & advices that can help you out.

Quick advantages

Now that we get the idea, let’s see what is in it for us:

* Extremely easy to be implemented by almost anyone.
* Very quick return on investment (ROI).
* It is portable and you can take it with you (camping for example).
* Made of simple parts/tools found at any local hardware store.
* Requires no more than a weekend to be installed.

Quick advice

Pulling yourself “off the grid” all at once isn’t recommended – do it gradually and slowly, use your new sys. while keeping the ‘Main-Grid’ as backup for possible extreme electricity usage.

Conclusions

If we look for an outstanding opportunity that’ll help us erase our elec. expenses, no doubt that this advanced “Cheap Solar Panel Electrical” System can get us there. We could probably come across other pluses provided by this remarkable ‘machine’, simply because it is revolutionary. It is highly recommended to simply try it so you could enjoy from the exciting opportunities that it provides.

The Truth About Homemade Solar Panel Prices

Would you like to learn more about solar panel prices?   Are you ready to install a solar panel system to your home but don’t know if you can really afford to do it?  Let me ask you this, can you even remember a day when you didn’t have to worry about your energy bill, rising costs, and deregulation? With today’s technology you can reduce your energy bills with homemade solar panels and you can do it easily and inexpensively.

There is a huge misconception concerning solar panel prices. Yes it is true that residential solar power systems that are installed by the big companies can cost you upwards of $8,000 to $20,000. And yes, these systems can actually save you your entire energy bill. The problem with these systems is that the return on your initial investment may take years and years to recover. This is just not a reasonable solution for the average citizen who wants to save on their energy bills.

Homemade solar panels are proven to save you money, are easy to assemble and install, and can even be completed over the course of a weekend if you’re well prepared. You don’t have to be an experienced carpenter because even the most novice handyman can realistically do the job.

Solar panel prices, when you build the panels yourself, will cost you less than $200 in materials. Just ask the thousands of people who have already successfully built a residential solar power system and are already saving 50% – 80% of their energy bills.

This savings can easily add up to at least $1000 over the course of a year. This will be substantially more if you actually heat your home with electricity. The best part of all of this is that you will realize a return on your initial investment in as little as three months. If you’re like me, you realize that this is a much more reasonable return than having a system installed by professionals.

You may be asking what you need to do to get started on this exciting project. Well, the first and most important thing to do is to buy the best step by step guide that you can get your hands on. I recommend that you find a guide that has very clear, detailed instructions and drawings. Videos are also a necessity because most of us are visual learners.

You’ll find that solar panel prices are inexpensive if your guide has a detailed materials list that tells you how to get the best priced material for your panels. Once you’ve got the materials in hand you can have your system built over the course of weekend.  So don’t waste any time.  Get started today with the best step by step guide available that will let you build a solar panel system to rival those from the professionals.

Build Homemade Solar Panels

Build Your Own Solar Panels

Many people have already seen a 65-80% decrease in their electrical bill’s.

Building your own , homemade solar panel’s is not hard. You can get everything you need with any hassle. usually you can find the materials locally. What I usually tell people is that building homemade solar panel’s is similar to a science fair project. And similar to any project, it’s alway’s funner to build one withj your kid’s and family.

And you will never feel like you do when you are finished. You made it, by yourself , with your own 2 hands. Awesome!

Personally , me and my wife used a homemade Solar Panel kit. It had picture’s and video’s that made it very easy to understand.  You know you are doing exactly what you are supposed to be doing at ALL time’s. And the solar panel’s looked great when finished as well.

Build Your Own , Homemade Solar Panels

There are a few benefit’s to building your own homemade solar panels for your home. I figured that listing them would give you the best opportunity to see what they are and get a good idea of why we should ALL think about building our own solar panels:

Easy to follow building kit – Video’s and Pictures keep you completely aware Learn how to build the actual Solar Powered Generator Build complete solar power cells – Work just like a huge battery for KEEPING the energy created by the Solar Panels Bonus Plans for building a Wind Turbine The perfect Solar Panel Kit for building the most cost effective Solar Panels Great for learning how to build portable, smaller solar panels Also -You will even learn how to conserve your oil and gas for your vehicles And plenty more great benefit’s that will leave you very excited about your choice to build Homemade Solar Panels

Using the particular DIY Solar Panel building Kit we used will even provide you with a way to build the solar panels for free. You wont get the materials for free right away. As we all know, you get paid by the government AFTER you complete your solar panels. But, instead of having to search for the exact IRS Rebate form’s needed to get your government reimbursement, you can get those same form’s as soon as you grab the Solar panel building kit. Trust me, it’s alway’s better to be provided with form’s like that without having to hunt them down. Hey, before I give out the link to this homemade solar panel kit, I just want to say that we should feel proud of all the people that are making it a point to use green energy. We CAN do something that make’s a difference. Even if you dont decide to use solar panel’s, dont be afraid to keep on looking. There are other energy source’s out there. As long as we all decide to use one of them, we are doing  our part.

You can find link’s to 3 different green energy source’s and the Homemade Solar Panel Building Kit Here:

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