The Practical Uses of Solar Power in Homes

People nowadays are becoming more and more concerned about the environment. We are now aware of the harmful effects of fossil fuel on the environment. And for more than a decade now, research and new developments with what is called “green energy” has been underway. One of those is solar power, and specifically, residential solar power.

Contrary to popular belief that solar power is not available to homeowners and is only used by large plants and industrial establishments, there are in fact quite a lot of ways that solar power has penetrated the residential world. Truth of the matter is that there are various ways that this type of power can be utilized in homes. Here are just some of the many uses of residential solar power.

As you know, solar energy can replace almost all the electricity needs in a home. It is just a case of using solar panels to collect the sun’s heat and converting it to electricity. Now, when these panels are already installed in the home, it is just a matter of what items to use.

One of the most popular uses for residential solar power is for pool heating. In areas when the cold weather can interfere with the homeowners’ enjoyment of the pool, heating its water to a comfortable temperature can use up a lot of energy and will make your electricity bills sky rocket. This is where the use of solar power comes in the picture and saves the day. You can look for a pool heating system that can accommodate batteries from your solar power system. Or you can have it designed to connect directly to your solar power system.

Another practical use for residential solar power is water heating. Water heating can take up a lot of your utility bills, sometimes this may need an entirely different type of power (usually gas power) to keep your home’s water heated when you use the shower. You can, instead, opt for solar powered water heating systems to get more savings in the long run while still being assured that you will be able to effectively heat the water you use at home but minus the expensive energy cost, of course.

More About The Different Types of Solar Panels

As solar power has recently become more popular in a larger range of uses, the basic part which is the solar panel has had many different alterations, or in other terms has been produced in many variations. These modifications have lead to the three different types of solar panels. And these are definitely usable in residential solar power systems.

The first type and probably the most efficient among the existing optionsis the monocrystalline solar panel, or more commonly called as the mono panel. This type is named so because it utilizes a single large sheet of crystalline silicon (single crystal, the crystal lattice of the entire sample is continuous and unbroken to the edges of the sample, with no grain boundaries.). This sheet is then cut out to fit the size of the panel, making one large single cell. The conductors that catch the electrons are metal strips that are laid over the entire cell. This type of panel is used in most residential solar power systems because of their efficiency, not to mention that fact that they are not really that expensive.

The next type is the polycrystalline panel, or the poly panel. This, on the other hand, uses a lot of small crystalline silicone cells instead of the large sheet of the mono panel. There are also two types of poly panels, the cast polysilicon and the string ribbon silicon.

Another type of panel used in residential solar power systems is the thin film panel. This type of panel is very different from the other two discussed earlier as it does not use any type of crystalline silicon. Instead, the silicon it uses is not in any crystalline form but rather it is applied directly on the panels, which allow it to use different types of semi-conductors. This is the cheapest among the various types of solar panels available because the manufacturing process is easier and costs less. Flexible panels are also possible to create. But this type of solar panel is known to be less effective than the crystalline silicon based ones because it has higher levels of impurity.

The Three Popular Kinds of Residential Solar Power

If you are looking for ways to install a residential solar power system in your home, there are different types that you can actually choose from. These different types have their own advantages and drawbacks that you can use to determine which type is suitable for your home and which one will be able to satisfy your energy demands.

The grid inter-tied residential solar power system is one of the most common types used in residential houses today. Here, the solar power system is directly attached to both the home and the conventional electric utility grid. This type of power system gives the homeowner the freedom to easily switch from solar power to the electric utility system and vice versa whenever they need to. What makes this advantageous is that when the home needs more energy than what the solar power system is producing, it can easily draw the power from the electric utility. It also has fewer required components, so it costs lower than most of the other power systems sold in the market nowadays.

The next type is the grid inter-tied residential solar power system with battery back up. This generally works like the grid inter-tied system, except that there is an additional slot installed for the batteries. The batteries act as back-up power in times of power outages. And when there is excess solar energy collected by the panels, this can be stored in the batteries. In cases when there is more energy needed than what the solar power system can provide, the batteries can automatically be used before it draws energy from the electric utility. But this type of solar power system is more complicated to design and install, not to mention the fact that it is more expensive to purchase.

The last type is the off grid residential solar power system. As the name suggests, it is not directly connected to the home and the conventional electric utility system. It, instead, makes use of batteries and an electric generator. The solar panels collect energy and then store them in the batteries. After that the batteries become the main source of energy. But in the event that the home’s energy consumption is more than what is stored in the batteries, there is a need to use an electric generator to compensate for the increase in energy demand.