House Heating Guide

Domestic Heating Guide gives information about how to choose the best and most modern heating systems for houses. IT is a must reading when revamping a house or making a new one. It is a unique work about house heating systems. House Heating Guide

Wine and Chocolate Create Solar Power

What do you get when you mix chocolate and wine? In the case of Clean Solar, Inc., you get solar. Silicon Valley Entrepreneur, Randy Zechman, is the founder of City Chocolate Fountains (the largest chocolate fountain rental company in the United States). Jeff Ritchey is a San Jose native and wine guru. He is a wine consultant for Pichetti Winery, San Saba winery, and has two of his own labeled wines. Together, they are the co-founders of Clean Solar, a Silicon Valley solar installer and integrator.

Randy Zechman will readily admit that he is a serial entrepreneur. Just over a year ago, with two successful businesses in his portfolio: City Chocolate Fountains and World 2 Do, Inc., Zechman was ready for a new challenge. Zechman and a friend of eight years, Jeff Ritchey, an award-winning winemaker, regularly attended a monthly Bay Area speaker series with a group of friends. After every speaker they would end up at a local restaurant debating the subject matter of that night’s speech, global warming and the health of the earth were often the center of those debates, which resulted in them seeing Al Gore speak at the State of the Valley conference in early 2007.

After seeing Al Gore speak on solutions for protecting our planet, Zechman began to research the solar power industry. Ritchey, while continuing to grow his label, Sensorium Wines, was also showing increased interest in the green movement, realizing that green technology was an ideal fit with his knowledge in geology, winemaking and construction.

Zechman knew that the scientific and construction skill set that Ritchey could bring to the table would be the perfect compliment to his business and marketing skills, which led him to approach Ritchey about starting a solar power company.

Zechman and Ritchey met weekly for 6 months, discussing the in and outs of the business and making sure that their ambitions would not get in the way of their friendship. “We had a heart to heart regarding our friendship versus business. We both believed we could manage both and that our friendship would not get in the way.” says Zechman.

“We’ve been friends for eight years and never thought about getting into business with each other, but this presented the right opportunity. With the market timing, our passion for doing something good, Randy’s sales and marketing experience and my technical and construction abilities, we figured it was a natural fit.” says Ritchey.

Clean Solar Inc. quickly became a reality and is now the Bay Area’s leading solar installation company. The fuel for their business growth is in the form of state rebates through the 10 year, $3.4 billion California Solar Initiative. While silicon is still in short supply, the rebates offer customers a chance to significantly lower the installation cost of a solar power system. Zechman and Ritchey are committed to staying ahead of the curve and being early adopters of new solar technology as it comes on line. “We want the Clean Solar team to stay abreast of the latest advancements in technology, maintain certifications, and educate ourselves in order to provide our customers with the knowledge they need as a solar owner.” says Zechman.

Solar Power Supplies One

If you need to find the best solar supplies for your solar panels and products, you can go online and find everything that you need to help keep your solar energy working. There are a lot of different products available that you can try out and see, and you can find the supplies that you need to help keep your solar panels working great and enhance the way that they work. When you need to find the best supplies and the best prices, you can go online to the solar power supplies one web site. There are a number of different supplies that you may need and the products that you use depend on the type of solar panels that you are using. You can find the best in selection and prices when you shop online for the solar power supplies that you need. Solar power is an excellent way to not only provide you with the energy that you need, it can also help you save a lot of money on power bills. Many people now use solar power to help heat and provide the power that is necessary. You can find that when you use solar power, you are also able to help preserve the power that you would normally have to use. You can find the supplies that you need for the type of solar power that you are using. Once you know the type of supplies that you will need to help make your solar panels work better, you can go online to the web site and find any of the supplies and products that you need to help you save more energy. There are supplies that are available for most types of solar panels and solar power supplies, and you can shop for the types that you need that are going to help you use your solar energy the most. You can go online and find how you can easily find the solar power supplies that you need and save money on all of the products that you buy to help your solar energy panels work better. There are certain products that you can try that may be able to help you conserve even more energy, and to help the panels that you are using last longer. You can also find a lot of great information about solar energy supplies and see what some of the other people who are using solar energy panels and supplies for power are using. Find the supplies that you need to help your solar energy power sources work the best for you, and to learn more about the options that you can try out.

Why Would Someone Want To Build Their Own Solar Panels When They Can Just Buy A Pre-Built Panel?

If you are wondering that why would someone want to waste their time and energy to build a solar panel when they can just easily hiring a contractor to do all the dirty work for them, the reason is simple, the cost. Buying a pre-built panel and the fees of the installation can easily cost any house holder thousands of dollars.

It is clear that not every house holder actually afford with that kind of fee. And that is why building their own solar panel is the best approach for every house holder because the amount of money they need to build one are a lot cheaper and more affordable for average house holder.

Admit tingly, they still can save their money if they hired a contractor to do it for them (if they are affordable) but how long does they intend to wait to get back their initial investment before they can start to enjoy the benefit from their own solar system panel? One year? Two years?

Either way, it is just too long. Since a home made solar panel cost less to build one, it would be snap for the owner to get back their investment back in 2 or 3 months and enjoy the benefit for the following months.

If you have no idea on how a solar panel can help you to save money, then you should know about it for now. A running solar panel will harness the power of the solar and convert it into a form of electricity that will power your house for every day. If your house appliances are using your own electricity instead of the power company, it would be logical that you would pay less for power bills for next month. Just imagine that if you are paying 50% less of your average power bills for every month. You are literally saving over thousands of dollars after one year.

Building a solar panel is not impossible task for regular people as the whole process does not involved with any complex mechanism or calculation to make it. As long as someone is willing to take action, to learn, can read and follow instructions, they are qualified to attempt this project.

Getting a reliable home study course is important, especially the one which comes with photo illustrations and video tutorials as a visual learning can easily help and enhance the beginner’s learning progress.

“install Solar Energy Generation” System © – Amazing Results!

Having an independent power-supply doesn’t have to be that expensive or complicated task anymore, simply because “Install Solar Energy Generation” System enable you to do that at minimal cost and effort. It may be surprising, but this technique can be implemented quite easily by any novice user. Read the following article to find out more about this special technology.

Quick introduction

The first step you need to take with this “Install Solar Energy Generation” System is learning how to professionally assemble Solar-Cells by using one of these recommended step-by-step guides. Just like everything else in life, some guides deliver and some other don’t; make sure it uses simple english without being too much ‘techi’, also, does it offer video tutorials, illustrations, and tech support? Well, here are several tips & benefits that can help you out.

Quick advantages

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

* Knowing that we are doing our part to conserve the planet.
* Very quick return on investment (ROI).
* It is already proven to work for thousands of people.
* Powers up basically any appliance at home: fridge, washing machine, computer, TVs, lights and more.
* Helps the environment.

Quick tip

Using a printed guidebook isn’t recommended – technology keeps changing and online guides usually get auto-updated with the latest information.

Bottom line

Many home-makers already recognized the fact that “Install Solar Energy Generation” System is a ‘must have’ for the simple reason that it truly works, and most importantly it saves up 80% on elect. expenses. Different users would probably find various great benefits provided by this one-of-a-kind invention, simply because it brings a real change to this industry. Now is the time to take action – it is recommended to try it so you could explore the various advantages that it provides.

why should you install a residential solar power system

Building a residential solar power system is a lot easier than you would think and learning to build your own solar energy panels for home could yield both short and long term benefits from the point of view of your costs, the general price of your house, the environment and even help you leave behind a bequest for generations to treasure. Not only do you save an enormous quantity of your monthly power and water bills, you become a key contributor to the green revolution. By employing more of solar electricity, you are helping to emit less toxic fumes into the ozone layer.

The green legacy you cultivated would be inherited for generations to come. And the best part of having full fledged residential solar power systems is that your house appraisal price to rise, and given the Obama state which strongly advocates green living, you’ll continue to enjoy your tax subsidies too. With residential solar power systems, many of us will not be subject to the mercy of madly fluctuation gas costs, unannounced outages, and constantly rising resources bills. Sun energy is a source of power which is replaceable, sustainable and free. You are then enabled to wean your dependence on public resources and eventually live off the grid when a full system is active, not to mention this is replaceable and sustainable power across the lifespan of the system.

Indeed, the freedom to use as much power as you have generated is extremely tempting to many folk. In the past, one could be deterred from building your own solar energy panels for homes, but as technology advanced, there are multiple who have successfully attempted and made their very own residential solar power systems. There are many good guides in the market nowadays which teaches you step-by-step on how to assemble and install your own panels. Some even have videos for each imperative step to expedite your learning curve, all complete with clear and concise designs, directions on where and the way to find the necessary components and materials and so on. And these packages customarily cost less than a good meal too.

For example, you should compare the price of residential solar power systems costing about two hundred greenbacks and a 3000 buck per panel professional price ticket, I am sure that you would agree that to build your own solar energy panels for home is a great amount indeed. Now that you know that benefits abound for owning your residential solar power system, start your green project right now, save some cash and have great fun with the entire family too. Learn More on the easy way to Build Solar Powered homes and Save eighty p.c on Your Electricity Bills.

The best part is you can also save through tax credits. There are tax credits available for the install of a residential solar power system for your home. If you have any other questions about how to build a solar system for your home you can visit my residential solar power system information and review site listed in my author resource box.

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.

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