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Saturday, 1 September 2012

Home Solar Installation

Home Solar power is one of the wisest investments you can make today. Solar savings begin on day one and continue to grow over time. For starters, federal, state and local solar incentives can help you cut the cost of your home solar system in half. Then, as soon as your home solar power system is installed and the home solar power you generate offsets your electricity needs, you’ll see your utility bills drop drastically and stay low for years to come. Among the many benefits of owning a home solar system, the fact that it offers the greatest utility bill savings may be the most important. Because home solar panels produce up to 50% more power than other panels, you can generate more solar energy from your roof and reduce the amount of electricity you purchase from the utility.

What type of solar energy capture system you put on your home depends on your needs. If you want to go full tilt and generate usable electricity from your home’s rooftop—and even possibly contribute power back to the larger grid—tried and true photovoltaic arrays might be just the ticket. A typical solar installation involves the panels, which are constructed of many individual silicon-based photovoltaic cells and their support structures, along with an inverter, electrical conduit piping and AC/DC disconnect switches.

Apart from this you can use solar blinds to give a new look to your windows and unmatched comfort.

These solar installation systems can cost tens of thousands of dollars to install, and as such may not pencil out for those looking for the cheapest power solution. But the upside of solar installation is that homeowners with photovoltaic panels on their rooftops can rest assured that as long as the sun shines, they will have power to spare without generating emissions of carbon dioxide and other noxious pollutants. Qualified solar installers can usually advise clients on which specific types of solar installation systems will work best given the specific location of a home. There are many benefits of solar installation like it lowers your energy bills and earns you income, Generates electricity whenever there is daylight, Long life and durable components with no mechanical moving part, Quick installation, Future proofs your electricity bills, and Reduces your carbon footprint, Adds value to the property and gives a positive statement to the community.

A solar installer will site survey your home to determine if solar installation is possible and right for you. Since solar systems produce power only when the sun is shining and work best on clear summer days when the sun is perpendicular to the module surface, finding the right site for your system is important. Your property should have clear, unobstructed access to the sun for most of the day, throughout the year. Remember that shading from trees, other buildings or other parts of your house will substantially reduce the amount of electricity your system can produce. It's also wise to consider how the system will affect site aesthetics. You’ll have peace of mind if a highly-trained local professional will handle all aspects of your solar installation, including design, permitting, and access to financing, rebate processing and solar system maintenance.

Solar panels and their Benefits

Solar panels are active solar devices that convert sunlight into electricity. Solar panels come in a variety of rectangular shapes and are usually installed in combination to produce electricity. The primary component of a solar panel is the solar cells, or photovoltaic cell. This is the key component that converts sunlight into electricity.

At the present time about 80% of all solar panels are made from crystalline silicon (i.e. monocrystalline, polycrystalline, amorphous silicon, or hybrids) solar cells. Typically the solar cells are laid out in a grid pattern – with perhaps as many as 72 different solar cells. The other 20% consist primarily of solar cells made mostly from Cadmium Telluride and a small but growing amount from CIGS. The appeal of these types of cells is their low cost resulting from the fact they can be made in large single sheets. There is a lot of research going on in the industry to develop more efficient and lower cost solar panels. The solar panels, after usually after being hermetically sealed to protect them are covered in a non-reflective glass to protect the solar cells from environmental damage and placed into a rigid frame. Typically, the frame is designed to prevent it from deforming due to freezing weather or strong winds. The frame will usually include a drainage hole to help prevent water buildup on the panels, which can reduce output. The back of the panel is also sealed to prevent damage. This is typically where the junction box is located.

Solar blinds are emerging as a perfect window treatment. More and more population is accepting solar blinds as alternative to those traditional curtains. 

The amount of power solar panels produce is influenced by the amount of sunlight falling on your specific location per year, the efficiency of the underlying solar cell technology, the materials and technology used in making the solar panel, keeping your panels clean, and the amount of time the solar panel has been in use. They require a significant cash outlay (they can also be financed) and provide a return on investment of 5 to 10%, depending on where you live and the rebates and tax incentives that are available. They can be analyzed as an investment because they can be expected to last 25 years or more.

An additional financial benefit of solar panels is the increase in value they provide for your home. The typical improvement in home value is figured at about $20 for every $1 saved in electricity cost. Thus, if you install a 4 kilowatt system that saves just $800 in electricity cost per year, you can add about $16,000 to the value of your home. Of course, this is a negotiated amount, but there is a strong argument for the increased value: any new owner would benefit from the lower electricity costs. According to this analysis, the value of your home increases by an amount almost exactly equal to the cost of the solar panels after rebates and tax credits. On top of that, you earn a 5-10% return. These two factors make the installation of solar panels worthwhile financially as well as environmentally.
Solar Rebate

Solar Panels In Schools: Harnessing the Sunlight for a Brighter Today

A solar panel is a packaged, connected assembly of photovoltaic cells. The solar panel can be used as a component of a larger photovoltaic system to generate and supply electricity in commercial and residential applications. Each panel is rated by its DC output power under standard test conditions, and typically ranges from 100 to 450 watts. The efficiency of a panel determines the area of a panel given the same rated output - an 8% efficient 230 watt panel will have twice the area of a 16% efficient 230 watt panel. Because a single solar panel can produce only a limited amount of power, most installations contain multiple panels. A photovoltaic system typically includes an array of solar panels, an inverter, and sometimes a battery and or solar tracker and interconnection wiring.

Solar panels use light energy from the sun to generate electricity through the photovoltaic effect. The structural member of a module can either be the top layer or the back layer. The majority of modules in Australia use wafer-based crystalline silicon cells or thin-film cells based on cadmium telluride or silicon. The conducting wires that take the current off the panels may contain silver, copper or other non-magnetic conductive transition metals.

The cells must be connected electrically to one another and to the rest of the system. Cells must also be protected from mechanical damage and moisture. Most solar panels are rigid, but semi-flexible ones are available, based on thin-film cells.Electrical connections are made in series to achieve a desired output voltage and/or in parallel to provide a desired current capability.

Separate diodes may be needed to avoid reverse currents, in case of partial or total shading, and at night. The p-n junctions of mono-crystalline silicon cells may have adequate reverse current characteristics that these are not necessary. Reverse currents waste power and can also lead to overheating of shaded cells. Solar cells become less efficient at higher temperatures and installers try to provide good ventilation behind solar panels.

Solar blinds come in variety of shapes and sizes. Make your home completely solar by applying these two things namely solar panels and solar blinds to home. 

Some recent solar panel designs across Australia include concentrators in which light is focused by lenses or mirrors onto an array of smaller cells. This enables the use of cells with a high cost per unit area in a cost-effective way. Depending on construction, photovoltaic panels can produce electricity from a range of frequencies of light, but usually cannot cover the entire solar range (specifically,ultraviolet, infrared and low or diffused light). Hence much of the incident sunlight energy is wasted by solar panels, and they can give far higher efficiencies if illuminated with monochromatic light. Therefore, another design concept is to split the light into different wavelength ranges and direct the beams onto different cells tuned to those ranges. This has been projected to be capable of raising efficiency by 50%.

Schools in Australia are an excellent place to use solar energy. For one thing, they're open during the day -- when the sun is out and when it's possible to get the most benefit from its power. And by showing solar power in action, schools can help educate the rest of the community about the benefits of this pollution-free energy source.Schools can take advantage of solar energy in many ways. In some cases, school officials will have to do some research and invest in equipment. You can increase your school's use of solar energy right away by allowing more natural light to filter into classrooms. You'll not only help your school use less electricity, you might even improve your grades! Several studies have shown that when schools use lots of natural light, students have better attendance records and do better on their schoolwork. But keep direct light away from blackboards and computer screens.

Installing solar equipment at a school in Australia takes research and planning, as well as money. But more and more schools are going solar, so administrators at your school can learn from their experiences.

Solar Electricity and Energy: Lightening the Lives Naturally

If frequent electricity cuts are taking a toll on your blood pressure and cursing the electricity department yields no results, here's a more practical solution. Go solar. Opting for electrification through solar energy will not only ensure you sleep well, but it will also allow you to 'switch off' the problem of interrupted electricity supply. For those considering this seriously, there's help at hand. Rural banks, for instance, are proving to be instrumental in spreading.

Through the centuries, scientists have found innovative ways to harness the electricity of the sun — from magnifying glasses to steam engines. Converting more solar electricity into electricity is high on the political agenda in many places like Melbourne, amid the push to find domestic energy sources that are less polluting than fossil fuels.

Solar energy, radiant light and heat from the sun, has been harnessed by humans since ancient times using a range of ever-evolving technologies. Solar energy technologies include solar heating, solar photovoltaic, solar thermal electricity and solar architecture, which can make considerable contributions to solving some of the most urgent problems the world now faces.

Solar technologies are broadly characterized as either passive solar or active solar depending on the way they capture, convert and distribute solar energy. Active solar techniques in Melbourne, include the use of photovoltaic panels and solar thermal collectors to harness the energy. Passive solar techniques include orienting a building to the Sun, selecting materials with favorable thermal mass or light dispersing properties, and designing spaces that naturally circulate air.

Treating your windows with the latest techniques is essential. Solar blinds are the perfect option when it comes to beauty and safety. 

In 2011, the International Energy Agency said that "the development of affordable, inexhaustible and clean solar energy technologies will have huge longer-term benefits. It will increase countries’ energy security through reliance on an indigenous, inexhaustible and mostly import-independent resource, enhancesustainability, reduce pollution, lower the costs of mitigating climate change, and keep fossil fuel prices lower than otherwise. These advantages are global. Hence the additional costs of the incentives for early deployment should be considered learning investments; they must be wisely spent and need to be widely shared".

In Melbourne, Solar thermal technologies can be used for water heating, space heating, and space cooling and process heat generation. Solar electricity is the conversion of sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaic (PV), or indirectly using concentrated solar electricity. Concentrated solar electricitysystems use lenses or mirrors and tracking systems to focus a large area of sunlight into a small beam. PV converts light into electric current using the photoelectric effect.Clearly, solar electricity is a more reasonable energy resource. To depend on conventional public utilities and its use of fossil fuels, animal matter, or plant matter is expensive. Common sense tells us there has to be a better way.

The good news is that solar electricity is renewable! In other words, using it does NOT deplete its reserves. In addition, solar energy usage is non-polluting and free. And, unlike oil, solar electricity usage does not emit any greenhouse gases, or increase the risk of an ecosystem disaster.


Thursday, 9 August 2012

Solar Systems in Melbourne


Solar systems in Melbourne have very little impact on the environment, making them one of the cleanest power-generating technologies available today. While Solar systems in Melbourne are converting the sun’s rays into electricity or hot fluids, they produce no air pollution, hazardous waste, or noise. The more electricity and heat that we convert from the sun’s rays decreases our reliance and dependence on fossil fuels and on imported sources of energy. Finally, solar energy can be an effective economic development driver. Solar systems in Melbourne reduce, or can completely eliminate, the amount of electricity you have to purchase from your utility or electric service provider to power your home, offices, industries, etc. Using solar power helps reduce our energy reliance on fossil fuels. The electricity generated by your solar system in Melbourne is clean, renewable and reliable. It will help reduce the amount of greenhouse gases – a major contributor to global climate change. Solar systems in Melbourne save you money on your electricity or natural gas bill and act as a hedge against future price increases. Solar systems can provide owners with fixed energy costs. Since the solar system industry is in the early stages of development, there is a wide range of competency levels among solar installers. Unless the solar installer is familiar enough with the technology to recognize whether the system integrator is competent, it is much safer to stay with a firm that provides pre-engineered systems. Pre engineering may not guarantee a flawless system, but the concerns over product compatibility and specification of individual components have been addressed in the system design. Installation effort of solar systems is very sensitive to specific house layouts and roofing type so solar installers should take care of this while installing.
Solar Installation

Solar Power Business in Melbourne


Solar power is the conversion of sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaic’s (PV), or indirectly using concentrated solar power (CSP). Concentrated solar power systems use lenses or mirrors and tracking systems to focus a large area of sunlight into a small beam. Photovoltaic’s convert light into electric current using the photoelectric effect. Sunlight can be converted directly into electricity using photovoltaic’s (PV), or indirectly with concentrated solar power (CSP), which normally focuses the sun's energy to boil water which is then used to provide power. Other technologies also exist, such as Stirling engine dishes which use a Stirling cycle engine to power a generator. Photovoltaic’s were initially used to power small and medium-sized applications, from the calculator powered by a single solar cell to off-grid homes powered by photovoltaic array. Solar power in Melbourne is not available at night, making energy storage an important issue in order to provide the continuous availability of energy. With a solar power business, you become a solar power consultant and make it possible for homeowners to adopt solar (PV) technology in a simple, investment-free way. No other solar rental program and related solar electric business makes it so easy. The renewable solar power business entails no up-front costs or fees to get involved but there is some investment related to educating yourself and in turn educating the homeowner about renewable solar energy. The rental of solar electric systems to homeowners is still just getting started. Solar power in Melbourne is now cost competitive with the utility prices and homeowners no longer have to make an upfront investment. They can simply rent a system and perhaps build their own solar energy business. To start your own solar power business, a person does not need to be a college graduate or a seasoned sales executive. All you need to be is someone with the desire to make a difference and someone who shares the belief that solar power in Melbourne will make that difference. The solar power business is centered upon ongoing support and growth.
Solar Power Melbourne