DIY Home & Garden

By Tony Summers

When considering ways of saving money and also helping the environment, Homemade Solar Cells may be the answer. Using solar power to supply your home or business is one of the most cost effective and environmentally friendly ways of generating power. Although the idea of carrying out a DIY Solar Energy project may seem daunting, it can save you $1000’s, and there is plenty of help out there to assist you.

One question that many people ask before starting their Homemade Solar Cells project is: “What do I need to complete the conversion?”. Let’s cover the basics of what you’ll need.

There are 7 main components that you will require for converting your home, less if you are only building a portable power system:

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By Primoz J. Borovnik

With a little hard work and a few hours off your Saturday morning to dedicate on the project, creating a renewable energy source for your household through solar panels is easy. To make this, the only things you need are a good plan and some materials from your own garage or local hardware shop.

Working Knowledge

The first thing that you need to know in order to make your own homemade solar panels is a working knowledge of how energy and electricity can be harnessed from the sun. Solar panels work by concentrating light from the sun into a generator. This can be done in several ways. The easiest is through the use of photovoltaic cells, which are the same things that you find on calculators. This is the direct conversion process that will immediately transform light into energy. With enough solar cells on a solar panel, an entire household’s electricity needs can actually be met.

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By Marly Kester

Whether your house is well fit for a DIY solar system depends on four elements:

Hours of Sunshine

The number of DIY solar panels that you would need depends on the amount of sunshine your area receives. On the site of the National Renewable Energy Lab you can find a map which is showing you how much electricity (in kilowatt per hour) one square meter your south facing DIY Solar Panels can generate. This is essential information to determine the number of panels you need to generate sufficient electricity for your daily need.

South-Facing Roof Area

Your DIY solar panels should be facing south. Do you have sufficient roof space available to install a solar system? You would need a south facing roof area of 8 to 10 m2 (86 to 105 ft2) per kilowatt of installed solar panel power. As a typical household requires a 3kW system, you would need a south facing roof space available of 24-30 m2 (250 to 315 ft2).

Many people assume that DIY solar panels have to be placed on roof tops. That´s certainly not true! They can be placed on the ground as well as long as they are south facing.

Is your home made solar system directed towards the sun?

Trees and nearby houses often are obstacles that hinder the sunlight to reach your solar panels. Unobstructed sunlight is important, especially between 12 and 4pm when the sun provides most of its energy. Take this into consideration when planning for a right position of your DIY Solar Panels.

The structure of your roof

Besides its high price, branded solar panels (for example those of Sanyo or Sharp) often have another disadvantage. Together with their installation brackets, they are too heavy. As these manufacturers have to guarantee the panels for a lifetime of 25 years, the construction of the panels itself, but especially their supportive structure, has to be very sturdy. A panel together with their heavy metal mounting brackets can weigh up to 20 kilos. As you would need about 23 solar panels for a 3kW system, the total weight of the panels and brackets could total 400 kilos. Can your roof support this? There are not many roofs which can hold this kind of weight without additional bracing. The substantial cost of these alterations to your house together with the high cost of branded systems, make a professionally installed solar system often not economically feasible.

Due to the simplified and lighter wooden structure of DIY Solar Panels these additional roof enforcements are not required, and therefore financially justifying the use of DIY Solar Panels versus professionally installed panels even more.

When your roof is facing south, you can install your DIY solar panels on the roof without difficulty. Is your roof is not south facing you would need some brackets though to be able to turn your panels towards the sun.

You might think that you aren´t capable of making and installing these panels. But I think you are. Making these DIY Solar Panels is not too difficult. If you read the testimonials of people that have made their own solar panels, many acknowledge that it´s very doable, especially with the help of existing DIY Solar Panels manuals. Some of those guides are really great!! We reviewed a couple of them and the best ones are really high-quality with excellent step-by-step instructions and even supportive video material.

Read our review for the best guides on DIY solar panels and start reducing your electricity bill and carbon footprint now.

Marly Kester is an expert in renewable energies and energy efficiency for ENERFY. ENERFY is an energy consultancy company advising their business customers on energy and ESCo contracts.

Via http://www.bestenergysaving.net ENERFY provides energy efficiency and renewable energy tips and tools to DIY-ers, interested in reducing their energy bill and their carbon footprint.

Check the review for best manuals: http://bestenergysaving.net/review-of-best-manuals-to-homemade-solar-panels

Article Source: http://www.articledashboard.com/Article/DIY-solar-panels-–-they-reduce-your-energy-bill-and-your-carbon-footprint/1172517

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