Solar Panels come in two varieties -- the type that we call “Solar Electric”  and the type we call “Solar Thermal”.

Solar electric gets all the attention these days. it’s kind of “sexy” to put electric panels designed for spacecraft on your roof and be part of the future. Because there is no doubt that the future is green and clean. The point is for the householder “What makes sense now?”

Prices are coming down as the industrial capability to produce gears up. In particular China sees solar as it’s future and it’s awesome and growing industrial base is designing it’s development to Western -- mostly American homes!

I’ll discuss much more of this later but for now there’s a great video presentation I came across by a solar industry expert. Get yourself something to drink because this is like a regular college lesson it’s nearly an hour long.

title=" class="autohyperlink" target="_blank">www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyiPbiPLmoM

I’ll publish a summary of this soon so you can see at a glance if it’s worth your time!

All For Now

solarpanelguy

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• Solar DIY: Do It Yourself Solar Panels Part 1
• Solar Energy Basics

Technorati Tags: solar electricity, solar panels, solar power, solar thermal

Solar DIY

Solar diy sounds ridiculous to many folks. 

The idea that the space age panels that adorn spacecraft and satellites can be hand made just boggle them. But really Solar diy is pretty straightforward and within your grasp if you are a little experienced with home repairs.

Let me explain why it is so simple.

A solar panel is just a few dozen solar cells hooked up to each other and mounted securely on a nice flat backing sheet – the real magic is in the individual solar cells.

There are two types of solar panel. The type we spend time talking about here and the type shown in the photo above is the solar electric panel that runs off the photoelectric effect.

So these panels are often called PV Panels

The photoelectric effect is that electrons were found to jump out of a metal sheet when ultra violet light shines on it. Over the years more and more materials were found to show the photoelectric effect and this gets even better when semi-conductors came along.

Nowadays solar sells are made out of silicon which the main working material of the semiconducting industry. Years ago when I started teaching this stuff the main material was germanium and it’s certain that materials scientists will produce other,  better materials.

The other type of solar panels runs off the heat of the sun and are like the normal hot water radiators in our homes. This is the solar thermal panel and we’ll cover that too.

Solar diy or “Do It Yourself” refers to lining up solar cells you’ve bought in a neat array and soldering them together and packaging this in a secure weather proof way and using it as a source of electric current and power.

If you can follow through on the assembly plans then making a solar panel can take a few weekends of careful though not difficult work. If, like me, you can’t solder to save your life, you just get some one to do the soldering for you.

Just about anyone who is good at detail work should be able to do this. I am a “big picture” kind of guy and useless at soldering. As it happens my mother is a soldering champ!  And soldering is the main skill needed in a solar panel project!

Like any other diy job there are possible safety hazards and the whole thing needs thinking through. There is plenty of advice available online and much of it is conflicting! It is often difficult in these circumstances to know who to trust.

One person you may put your trust in is Micheal Harvey. He has spent 15 years in the Solar Industry and has produced a guide – a video guide as well as a book and wiring diagrams.

According to the plan it goes there..

Check it out for yourself… Michael Harvey’s Solar DIY Guide

And if you have done any solar diy please feel free to leave a comment on what worked and perhaps what did not work – that’s just as useful.

And keep tuned – this is just part 1 of this Solar DIY series – lots of good stuff to come soon.

SolarPanelGuy

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• Solar Energy Basics

Technorati Tags: solar electricity, solar panels, solar panels for home, solar power

Solar Energy is the sunshine energy that powers the whole planet and drives the entire living Earth. Not surprisingly solar enrgy can be used to power lights, air conditiong units and just about any other electrical device we have at home…

And not just at home either.

The focus of  “Solar Panels for Home Use” is naturally going to be on solar panels that we use at home but there are small flexible solar panels you can take when backpacking which you can whip out and power your laptop with!

Solar can be used to cover your entire roof or you can just have a single panel – there’s no need to spend a fortune on installing a complete system which can give you all your home power.

Truth is if you do install a complete system you may be able to sell electricity to your local utility company. I’ve not gone that far – but I can easily imagine how enjoyable that would be.

Solar panels have come a long way and a lot of the money that has gone into the space race has been used to develop solar panel technology. We all expect satellites and space stations to have big panels sticking out but often we fail to notice that these are the solar panels powering the entire electrical system.

Space age technology is now here in the home and is saving loads of people money on their home bills and giving off grid people extra options and freedom

It does sound like science fiction – sunshine hits the solar panel and electricity comes out…

But this is science fact and it is free electricity once the panels are purchased…

…or built!

Alex the Solar Panels Guy

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• Solar DIY: Do It Yourself Solar Panels Part 1

Technorati Tags: save money, solar electricity, solar energy, solar panels, solar panels for home, solar power