Solar Energy For Homes

Using renewable resources such as sunlight has its advantages and disadvantages. If you are one of those people who are very much concerned about the environment, you should learn more about the advantages and disadvantages of solar power. Knowing the advantages and disadvantages of solar power will help you make informed decisions and help you advocate for the use of this technology.

Accessibility

Access to sunlight is one of the most important issue when comes to solar power. One should never overlook the advantages and disadvantages of solar power when it comes to accessibility. We should never take for granted the availability of sunlight. Note that although there are areas of the world that have abundant sunlight, there are also some parts of the world that do not see the light of day for several months. Before you consider setting-up solar panels in your home and generate your own electricity, you should first take into consideration the climate that you have in your area. If you live in a hot area like or if you live close to the dessert, setting up your solar energy generators may be a good idea but if you live in a place like Norway where the sun don’t shine at all during some parts of the year, you need to think twice about using solar energy.

Cost

When weight the advantages and disadvantages of solar power, you need to take into consideration the cost. Yes, it is true that solar power do not have maintenance cost, but setting up all those solar panels can cost a lot of money. The space that you will use to set up your solar panels can also cost money. Moreover, since photovoltaic energy cannot be stored without the use of batteries, you will need to consider the cost of the batteries in computing the cost of your solar power generators. All these things should be factored in when you compute the cost of setting up your own solar power generators.

The Amount Of Energy That You Need And The Space That You Have

The amount of energy that you need should be considered when looking into the advantages and disadvantages of solar power. According to experts, it is quite difficult to generate a huge amount of energy through the use of solar panels. To generate a huge amount of energy, you will need thousands and thousands of solar panels. If you do not have enough space to set up all your solar panels, you may not be able to generate enough energy.

Although the manufacture of solar panels is done in a strict quality controlled environment, for experimental purposes you can build your own solar panel to see how the sun’s energy can be converted to electricity. While the most efficient panels are made with silicon, you can build your own solar panel by using cuprous oxide, a material known to cause light to be turned into electricity. You probably cannot go into a store an buy cuprous oxide but you can duplicate it on a thin sheet of copper.

You will need about one square foot of thin copper plate, two alligator clips and short leads of wire, a wide mouth glass jar, tap water and salt. The use of a voltmeter, capable of measuring extremely small amount of electricity will be needed to see the end result. To build your own solar panel you will need an electric stove or hot plate on which to heat the copper sheeting. Place the copper sheet on the burner and turn it on high and let it sit there for about 30 minutes.

As it heats, you see the plate turn colors and the heat will show the outline of the heating coil underneath the plate. As it gets hotter it will begin to turn dark until the entire sheet has a black coating. After the entire sheet is black, turn off the burner and let it sit to cool for about 20 minutes. As it cools the black cuprous oxide coating will begin to pop off the sheet, leaving a thins coating of red on the copper. This red coating is needed to build your own solar panel, and while the majority of the black can be rinsed off under running water, it should not be brushed clean.

Salt Water Helps Produce The Electricity

Using the alligator clips, connect the copper sheet to one the top of one side of the glass jar. Attach another clean copper sheet to the other side of the jar. Mix about two tablespoons of salt into hot tap water, making sure it dissolves and then pour it into the jar. Be careful the water does not get on the alligator clips. The two copper sheets should be under water with about one inch left exposed at the top of the car to build your own solar panel.

Carefully place the entire contraption in the sunlight, either in front of a window or carry it outside and expose it to the sun. Using the voltmeter connect the leads to the two alligator and you can see the meter indicate the small amount of power being generated by sunlight, proving you were able to build your own solar panel.