Living The Renewable Energy Home Dream

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 22:10:42 +0000

Hi Guys,

I hope that you have had a good day.

With all the advances in renewable energy technology, it has become easier to start converting your home into a renewable energy home. A renewable energy home utilizes renewable resources to provide electricity, hot water, heat and peace of mind. A peace of mind that comes from the knowledge that even though energy prices keep rising, yours won’t.

There are several ways to implement your renewable energy home plan. The first is through solar energy. In a renewable energy home you can install solar hot water panels which heat and store water for use and you can also install solar panels, which use photovoltaic cells to convert sunlight into electricity.

Both these solar systems can be pricey if you purchase them through and have them installed by a professional. Fortunately for us there are many great resources available to build your own solar panels and solar hot water systems that can reduce the cost greatly. For some professionally installed systems over half of the cost is labor costs.

If you are about to start building your own house, a great way to make it a ‘green’ energy home is through the implementation of passive solar design. The passive solar elements have to be planned for during the design stages because it is difficult to add any of these elements during construction or after the house has been constructed.

Passive solar takes advantage of the south facing (if you live in the northern hemisphere) sides of the house for heating and cooling. By installing lots of highly efficient windows and heat retaining bricks and stone on your south facing areas and awnings, you are taking advantage of passive solar techniques to develop your green energy home.

Another addition to the green energy home would be a windmill. Windmills are used to generate electricity from the wind. Windmills can be installed on rooftops or in yards and offer pollution free electric. Windmills can be purchased from retailers or there are a wide variety of affordable kits available for the motivated do-it-yourselfers to handle the implementation of their own green energy home plans. However a word of caution, even though governments try talking the talk, they don’t often walk the walk. Planing regulations may prohibit you from installing a windmill in your property or rooftop.

If you lucky enough to have a stream, with a reasonable flow of water, on your property, you could add to the efficiency of your green energy home with a small hydroelectric power system. This is also a great pollution free option that is easy to maintain and works as long as there is water available.

The ultimate green energy home combines as many of these resources. By using wind, water and solar to generate electricity you are looking not only at huge savings and possible profits from your electricity usage, but you would truly be ‘green’ as each of these options contributes allowing you to go off grid. To further combine passive solar design and solar hot water systems, you are reducing your energy needs exponentially and truly living the dream of going green.

A ‘green’ or renewable energy home doesn’t require more maintenance than traditional homes. Solar technologies require little to no maintenance and wind and water turbines require only regular oiling for peak performance. There is no better time to create your ‘green’ energy home and start living your ‘green’ dream.

Save on your energy bills by generating your own power at home with solar and wind energy to reduce or eliminate your power bill. Get our complete guide at DIY Power System

As always, I wish you everything I wish myself.

Until the next time.

Alain

Check out my review of the top 3 products for renewable home energy solution
Check out my review of the Home Made Power Plant product
Check out my review of DIY Power System product

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Benefits of Green Solar Energy

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 08:16:47 +0000

Hi Guys,

I hope that you’ve all had a really great day.

We will be exploring the benefits of green solar energy in connection with renewable home energy.

Every 15 minutes the sun produces enough power to supply our current energy needs for an entire year. The United Kingdom due to its distance from the equator receives 60% of the solar energy received at the equator. This energy equates to between 900 to 1200 kWh per square metre per year.. This energy is equivalent to the energy production of 1000 power stations.

The energy coming from the sun fluxes and wanes depending on the solar activity. The less sun spot activity on our sun the less energy emitted.

To really understand and exploit the benefits of green solar energy, one needs to understand how solar energy is harnessed.

Green solar energy can be divided into two types i.e. thermal (heat) and light.

Thermal energy is considered passive solar energy. The use of passive solar energy in housing involves the placement of the building for optimum benefit, the building design and position of suitable building components to make full use of sunlight for day lighting, passive heating, and/or passive cooling. Apart from saving energy, the primary benefit of a passive solar home is the improved comfort of its occupants.

Thermal energy is harnessed through the design and materials used to construct a building.

The building gathers energy from the sun the old fashioned way; by allowing it to stream in through the windows…

By incorporating the right ratio of south facing wall to windows (if you live northern hemisphere) and using heat retaining materials, such as brick and stone and with a little intelligent design and planning, a passive solar home or building can get a full quarter of its heat from the sun alone. That same thermal energy can also be used to heat water for solar hot water systems.

In a passive solar house window placement and sizes are crucial as they can affect the heat gain or loss during various months of the year.

When designing and planning a passive solar home the ultimate goal is to have a home that is warm in the winter and cool in the summer. Passive solar home energy systems can easily be integrated with active solar systems.

A passive solar system functions best in an energy efficient home with a well designed mechanical system.

It unfortunate that in mass produced housing the principles of passive thermal energy are hardly ever used.

A passive solar system can only be a part of an energy efficient home and should not be considered as a stand alone solution to saving energy.

To reduce the need to use lights within the home during the day tubular skylights along with sky tubes and solar tunnels can be used.

The rays of the sun also produce light and radiation that can be captured by solar panels to create electricity.

For the majority of home owners the reason to use renewable home energy is to reduce their utility bills. Constructing a green solar energy system can come with a large initial investment, however they generally pay for themselves within a few years by providing either supplemental electricity or all of the electricity to your home or business.

Building your own solar panels, participating in government refunds and net metering, in which you sell unused electricity back to the power company, can reduce the cost of implementing a green solar energy system.

In addition, green solar energy systems require little to no maintenance after installation, as most have no moving parts.

You don’t have to construct the whole solar energy system in one go, you can easily construct solar panels in modular sections and incorporate them into your home energy system whenever you complete a new panel.

Green solar energy systems can be used by homes and businesses alike. If going solar cannot meet all of your energy needs, it can certainly reduce them. Utilizing Green solar energy can save you money, but it’s greatest benefit is to the environment and our future.

As always, I wish you everything I wish myself.

Until the next time.

Alain

Review of the top 3 products in renewable home enegy solution

Review of the Home Made Power Plant product

Review of DIY Power System product

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Renewable Home Energy Solutions » Northern Hemisphere

Living The Renewable Energy Home Dream

Benefits of Green Solar Energy