WindEnergy SolarEnergy Easy Ways to GO GREEN with "Photovoltaic Cell"- PV System

Small Solar Electric Systems

A small solar electric or "photovoltaic cell" (PV) system can be a reliable and pollution-free producer of electricity for your home or office. And they're becoming more affordable all the time. Small "photovoltaic cell" PV systems also provide a cost-effective power supply in locations where it is expensive or impossible to send electricity through conventional power lines.

Because "Photovoltaic Cell" PV technologies use both direct and scattered sunlight to create electricity, the solar resource across the United States is ample for small solarpower electric systems. However, the amount of power generated by a solarpower system at a particular site depends on how much of the sun's energy reaches it. Thus, "Photovoltaic Cell"  PV systems, like all solarenergy  technologies, function most efficiently in the southwestern United States, which receives the greatest amount of solarpower energy.


You can build a small solarpower  system anywhere in the world where the sun shines in ample quantity to make the functionality worthwhile. Just click on the link icons below for a couple of systems you and your family can build at home on a weekend, to get the start to a "home solar energy" system. 


You will also find included in these links the necessary information to also supplement your system with a residential windpower  system as well. Take a moment a check out all the information included to see what is suitable for you and your location.

SolarPower: is the Sun in the right place for me?

via How Stuff Works

Evaluating Your Site's Solar Resource for Solarpower Electricity

The solar resource across the U.S. is ample for solar electric systems—also known as "photovoltaic cell" (PV) systems—because they can use both direct and scattered sunlight. However, the amount of solarpower electricity generated at a particular site depends on how much of the sun's energy reaches it. Thus, PV "photovoltaic cell" systems function most efficiently in the southwestern United States, which receives the greatest amount of solarenergy.

Before you buy a PV "photovoltaic cell" system, you'll want to be sure your site has enough solarenergy to meet your electricity needs efficiently and economically. 

When evaluating your site, you'll also need to consider both the geographic orientation and the tilt of your solar panels—PV "photovoltaic cell" modules—as both can affect your system's performance.


Once you've started confirmed that your location is a workable site for a solarpower system, it's time to locate the knowledge on how to build the system. WindEnergy SolarEnergy provides you with two links below which can help you gain the information you need to build your own "home solar energy" system. Take a few minutes to review the sites and decide which is right for you.

CHECK OUT THE LINKS BELOW 

WindEnergy / SolarEnergy links to a Greener Future

The Benefits of 20% Wind Energy by 2030

According to the American Wind Energy Association, if we increase our nation's wind energy capacity to 20% by 2030, it would…

Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions

A cumulative total of 7,600 million tons of CO2 would be avoided by 2030, and more than 15,000 million tons of CO2 would be avoided by 2050.

Conserve Water

Reduce cumulative water consumption in the electric sector by 8% or 4 trillion gallons from 2007 through 2030.

Lower Natural Gas Prices

Significantly reduce natural gas demand and reduce natural gas prices by 12%, saving consumers approximately $130 billion.

Expand Manufacturing

To produce enough turbines and components for the 20% wind scenario, the industry would require more than 30,000 direct manufacturing jobs across the nation (assuming that 30% – 80% of major turbine components would be manufactured domestically by 2030).

Generate Local Revenues

Lease payments for wind turbines would generate well over $600 million for landowners in rural areas and generate additional local tax revenues exceeding $1.5 billion annually by 2030. From 2007 through 2030, cumulative economic activity would exceed $1 trillion or more than $440 billion in net present value terms.

Build your own Windpower Generator 

Click onto the links below and check out the information on how YOU can make your own homemade wind turbine. Review both of these links and see which project is best for you and make it a family build. Spend time with the family and save money in the end. What could be better than that.

Links to WindEnergy / SolarEnergy - providing Wind Energy Pros and Cons

Advantages and Challenges of WindEnergy

Windenergy offers many advantages, which explains why it's the fastest-growing energy source in the world. Research efforts are aimed at addressing the challenges to greater use of windenergy.

Advantages

Windenergy is fueled by the wind, so it's a clean fuel source. Windenergy doesn't pollute the air like power plants that rely on combustion of fossil fuels, such as coal or natural gas. Windpower turbines don't produce atmospheric emissions that cause acid rain or greenhouse gasses.

Windenergy is a domestic source of energy, produced in the United States. The nation's wind supply is abundant.

Windenergy relies on the renewable power of the wind, which can't be used up. Wind is actually a form of solarenergy; winds are caused by the heating of the atmosphere by the sun, the rotation of the earth, and the earth's surface irregularities.

Windenergy is one of the lowest-priced renewable energy technologies available today, costing between 4 and 6 cents per kilowatt-hour, depending upon the wind resource and project financing of the particular project.

Windpower turbines can be built on farms or ranches, thus benefiting the economy in rural areas, where most of the best wind sites are found. Farmers and ranchers can continue to work the land because the wind turbines use only a fraction of the land. Windpowered generator plant owners make rent payments to the farmer or rancher for the use of the land.

Challenges

Windenergy must compete with conventional generation sources on a cost basis. Depending on how energetic a wind site is, the wind farm may or may not be cost competitive. Even though the cost of 

wind power has decreased dramatically in the past 10 years, the technology requires a higher initial investment than fossil-fueled generators.

Good wind sites are often located in remote locations, far from cities where the electricity is needed. Transmission lines must be built to bring the electricity from the wind farm to the city.

Wind resource development may compete with other uses for the land and those alternative uses may be more highly valued than electricity generation.

Although windpower generation plants have relatively little impact on the environment compared to other conventional power plants, there is some concern over the noise produced by the rotor blades, aesthetic (visual) impacts, and sometimes birds have been killed by flying into the rotors. Most of these problems have been resolved or greatly reduced through technological development or by properly siting wind plants.

If you would like the instruction on how to build and produce your own residential windpower then click on the links provided below. Review the content and see which system is best for you and start making your own residential windpower with a homemade wind turbine this weekend. 

SolarEnergy / SolarPower - "Solar Power Cells"

How Small SolarEnergy Electric Systems Work

Solar electric systems, also known as "photovoltaic cell" (PV) systems, convert sunlight into electricity.

Solar cells—the basic building blocks of a "photovoltaic PV system—consist of semiconductor materials. When sunlight is absorbed by these materials, the solarenergy knocks electrons loose from their atoms. This phenomenon is called the "photoelectric effect." These free electrons then travel into a circuit built into the solar"photovoltaic cell" to form electrical current. To see a simulation of the photoelectric effect, please view our animation. Only sunlight of certain wavelengths will work efficiently to create electricity. "Photovoltaic cell" PV systems can still produce electricity on cloudy days, but not as much as on a sunny day.

The basic PV or "solar power cell" typically produces only a small amount of power. To produce more power, "solar power cells" (about 40) can be interconnected to form panels or modules. PV modules range in output from 10 to 300 watts. If more power is needed, several modules can be installed on a building or at ground-level in a rack to form a PV array.

"Photovoltaic Cell" PV arrays can be mounted at a fixed angle facing south, or they can be mounted on a tracking device that follows the sun, allowing them to capture the most sunlight over the course of a day.

Because of their modularity, "Photovoltaic Cell" PV systems can be designed to meet any electrical requirement, no matter how large or how small. You also can connect them to an electric distribution system (grid-connected), or they can stand alone (off-grid).

To see how you can possibly make your own solarenergy "photovoltaic cell" system at home, check out the links provided below for more information and instruction on how to proceed.

CHECK OUT BOTH THESE PROVIDERS

WindEnergy pros and cons / SolarEnergy pros and cons

 Is My Property A Good Candidate For Renewable SolarEnergy and WindEnergy?

It would be best if you consult the Dept of Energy’s website and pay particular attention to the solar and wind resource maps. Often this information is also available at your municipality’s city hall, which would also be the most relevant source for any legal questions and inquiries related to available rebates.The results you see, and the energy-saving benefits you will enjoy, will both be a direct function of the size and quality of the system you build, as well as all the characteristics of your home (insulation, southern exposure, materials). But you should know that your total energy output will also be impacted by the solar and wind resources in your specific area and neighborhood – It will depend where you are and what surrounds you (hills, valleys, buildings, etc).

To get more specific than the answers you would find there can get very difficult for us as a centralized provider of renewable energy how-to information. Even if we know what city you live in, we don’t know exactly where you are, and we don’t know what surrounds your property. Naturally, specific questions about the results customers will see are impossible for us to answer. Your circumstances, like those of all of our customers, can’t be assessed without being there.

Sincerely,

John Russel

Electrician, Researcher, Inventor, Home Energy Consultant, and Creator of the Power4Home System

PLEASE CLICK HERE TO SEE ALL THE DETAILS

SolarEnergy

Basic Principles

Every location on Earth receives sunlight at least part of the year. The amount of solarenergy radiation that reaches any one "spot" on the Earth's surface varies according to these factors:

• Geographic location
• Time of day
• Season
• Local landscape
• Local weather.

Because the Earth is round, the sun strikes the surface at different angles ranging from 0º (just above the horizon) to 90º (directly overhead). When the sun's rays are vertical, the Earth's surface gets all the energy possible. The more slanted the sun's rays are, the longer they travel through the atmosphere, becoming more scattered and diffuse. Because the Earth is round, the frigid polar regions never get a high sun, and because of the tilted axis of rotation, these areas receive no sun at all during part of the year.

The Earth revolves around the sun in an elliptical orbit and is closer to the sun during part of the year. When the sun is nearer the Earth, the Earth's surface receives a little more solarpower. The Earth is nearer the sun when it's summer in the southern hemisphere and winter in the northern hemisphere. However the presence of vast oceans moderates the hotter summers and colder winters one would expect to see in the southern hemisphere as a result of this difference.

The 23.5º tilt in the Earth's axis of rotation is a more significant factor in determining the amount of sunlight striking the Earth at a particular location. Tilting results in longer days in the northern hemisphere from the spring (vernal) equinox to the fall (autumnal) equinox and longer days in the southern hemisphere during the other six months. Days and nights are both exactly 12 hours long on the equinoxes, which occur each year on or around March 23 and September 22.

Countries like the United States, which lie in the middle latitudes, receive more solar energy in the summer not only because days are longer, but also because the sun is nearly overhead. The sun's rays are far more slanted during the shorter days of the winter months. Cities like Denver, Colorado, (near 40º latitude) receive nearly three times more solar energy in June than they do in December.

The rotation of the Earth is responsible for hourly variations in sunlight. In the early morning and late afternoon, the sun is low in the sky. Its rays travel further through the atmosphere than at noon when the sun is at its highest point. On a clear day, the greatest amount of solarenergy reaches a solarpower "photovoltaic cell"  collector around solar noon.

CLICK ON THESE TWO LINKS AND COMPARE

BOTH OF THESE PROVIDE INSTRUCTION

ON  WindEnergy and SolarEnergy

COLLECTION FOR SAVINGS ON YOUR "Energy Billing"

SolarEnergy / SolarPower - "Home Solar Energy"

Small Solar Electric Systems Solar Energy 

Pros and Cons

A small solar electric or "photovoltaic cell" (PV) system can be a reliable and pollution-free producer of electricity for "home solar energy" or office. SolarPower is becoming more affordable all the time. Small "photovoltaic cell" PV systems also provide a cost-effective solarenergy power supply in locations where it is expensive or impossible to send electricity through conventional power lines.

Because "Photovoltaic Cell", PV technologies, use both direct and scattered sunlight to create electricity, the solarpower resource across the United States is ample for small solarenergy electric systems. 

However, the amount of power generated by a solarpower system at a particular site depends on how much of the sun's energy reaches it. Thus, "Photovoltaic Cell ", PV systems, like all solarenergy technologies, function most efficiently in an area which receives the greatest amount of sunlight.

You, as an average mechanical inclined person can, in as short as a weekend, make and install your own solarenergy "photovoltaic cell" (PV) system at your own home, cottage or hunting camp.

"Windmill Generator" for "Wind Home Power"

Windenergy Pros and Cons

There are few cons to a windenergy system, the main one being an area with little wind, however the systems now are able to produce windenergy with very little. The other is making s system pleasant to the eye. You can again, in the space of a weekend manufacture your own windpower generation system using the techniques provided by the following two links.

Simply review the following links to see the help provided buy each, and decide which is the best for you.

Just take a couple minutes and have a look it could be the best money saving few minutes you spend today.

GO HERE

WindEnergy - Windpower Generation

TAKE A CLOSER LOOK AT THE INTERIOR DESIGN BELOW

How WINDPOWER Turbine Works

Wind is a form of solarenergy. Winds are caused by the uneven heating of the atmosphere by the sun, the irregularities of the earth's surface, and rotation of the earth. Wind flow patterns are modified by the earth's terrain, bodies of water, and vegetation. Humans use this wind flow, or motion energy, for many purposes: sailing, flying a kite, and even generating electricity.

The terms windenergy or windpower generation describe the process by which the wind is used to generate mechanical windpower generation or electricity. A WindPower turbine converts the kinetic energy in the wind into mechanical power. This mechanical power can be used for specific tasks (such as grinding grain or pumping water) or a windpowered generator can convert this mechanical windenergy into electricity.

So how does a windpowered turbine make electricity? Simply stated, a windpowered turbine works the opposite of a fan. Instead of using electricity to make wind, like a fan,a windpowered turbine use wind to make electricity. The windenergy turns the blades, which spin a shaft, which connects to a generator and makes electricity.

INTERNAL WORKINGS OF A WINDPOWERED GENERATOR

You now have two choices for Instruction on how to make your own "Home Wind Power" system. The following two providers can give you in depth information on how to make your own SolarEnergy System and WindEnergy System

Home SolarEnergy / SolarPower System Maintenance

Installing and Maintaining Your Home SolarEnergy /SolarPower Heating System

Periodic visual inspection may be necessary to properly maintain your solar system.
Photo credit: Robb Williamson.

How well an active home solarenergy system performs depends on effective siting, SolarPower, system design, and installation, and the quality and durability of the components. 


The "photovoltaic cell" collectors and controls components now manufactured, are of high quality. The biggest factor now is finding the informational tools to  properly design and install the "home solar energy" system.

Once a "photovoltaic cell" system is in place, it has to be properly maintained to optimize its performance and avoid breakdowns. Different solarpower systems require different types of maintenance, but you should figure on 8–16 hours of maintenance annually. You should set up a calendar with a list of maintenance tasks that the "home solar energy" component manufacturers recommends.

Most solar water heaters are automatically covered under your homeowner's insurance policy. However, damage from freezing is generally not. Contact your insurance provider to find out what its policy is or refer to our list of sponsors (to the right side of the blog post) and get a "insurance rate comparison" on your current policy including the home solarenergy system. Even if your current provider will cover your home solarenergy system, it is best to inform them in writing that you own a new "photovoltaic cell" system.


WindEnergy is coming up; in our future blogs we will take a look at "Home Wind Power" systems that will provide you with residential windpower and windpower generation using a windpower turbine or windpowered generator using the latest "wind technology"


To get the informational tools you need check out the two providers below. They will give you all the necessary instruction to build and maintain you own Home SolarEnergy System give you the instruction needed to complete a homemade wind turbine for your residential wind power.