Solar Home Energy Electric System For Home or Business

Solar home energy systems are also known as photovoltaic, or PV system, which converts sunlight directly into electricity. When the sun’s rays strike a PV module electrons are freed by the interaction of sunlight with the semiconductor materials in photovoltaic cells and then captured in an electrical current.

PV systems allow you to produce electricity without noise or air pollution from a clean and renewable source. It never runs out of fuel, will not increase oil imports to the United States, and most of the components are manufactured right here in the U.S. These characteristics make solar technology the U.S. energy source of choice for the 21st century.

The basic building block of a photovoltaic system is the solar cell. You connect multiple solar cells together to create a module, and each module can generate from 10 to 300 watts of electricity. The PV modules are then connected to inverter which converts the system’s direct current (DC) electricity to alternating current (AC) electricity which can be used in your home.

Extra energy is stored in batteries to provide a backup in case of power interruption due to night time or lack of sunlight caused by clouds. Usually a bank of batteries is used to store this excess energy. Another option is to tie into the power grid and sell your excess electricity to your local utility and using that income as a credit against your use when you can not generate your own electricity or your batteries run low.

AC electricity is compatible with the utility grid which powers our lights, appliances, computers and televisions. When you sell your excess electricity to the utility and then use electricity from the utility it is called net metering. More than 35 states require net electric meter reading when the utilities customer has a solar electric system for their home.

On the left you can see an example of how a solar electric system for home or business would work, and how it would tie into your local utilities grid system. This diagram also shows the simplicity of a solar electric system, and demonstrates how easy it would be to build your own system.

Of all the available systems for saving money through producing your own electrical power, a photovoltaic system is by far the simplest and easiest for a do it yourself handyman. If you know how to use some simple tools, have basic construction skills, you too can build your very own solar electric system for your home or business.

As I have researched the available instructional material on how to build your own solar panels and build your own solar electric system one program stands out. You can get more information here and discover for yourself how easy it is to start down the path to electrical independence!

This system has been seen on “Popular Science”, “Popular Mechanics”, “Smart Home Owner”, “Home Energy” and “Treehugger” publications. You can learn more about the Power4Home system here!