Go Solar Power in Your Home. Save and Earn Money

California aims to have more than 5% of its electricity come from solar power by the year 2018. Much of that electricity will come from solar power homes. At present Japan and Germany are the two largest users and producers of solar power and leaders in that field, with great incentives to the owners of homes that "go solar". When a solar power home is not making use of the energy being produced it is fed back into the Grid - reversing the direction of the electricity meters and so crediting the homeowner for electricity produced. Let me describe a typical small family solar power home.

The system I am about to describe will produce about 2 kilowatts of electricity per hour on a sunny day. Mounted either on the roof or on poles would be five 120-watt solar panels. Power from these panels is channeled through a power center where the charge to a number of batteries is controlled. The batteries are linked to a 1500 - 2000 watt inverter which is the supplier of power for the house and which feeds electricity back into the Grid when not needed by the house. At night power is drawn mainly from the batteries with backup from either the Grid or a standby generator. Depending on the size of home and the number of people living in it the above figures can be increased or decreased.

Such a set up would allow for 120 volts AC supplying power for all lighting, vacuum, washing machine, kitchen appliances, microwave cooker, a well pump, color TV, VCR, a satellite decoder, Hi Fi, a personal computer and printer, a fridge as well as all your power tools. The beauty is that once this is all set up, all your electricity is free. Such a solar power home would also be supplemented with either solar shades or smart glass in the windows and with a solar hot water system. Heating in winter can either be coupled to the house's solar water system or a solar heater could be utilized on the south side of the house. It is most important that such a home should be very well insulated to prevent heat losses to the outside. People contemplating installing such a system should be aware of the possibility of a large rebate from the appropriate State commission and make the appropriate enquiries beforehand.