How I Used Solar Panels to Save Money
$29. That’s how much I used to pay for electrical consumption every day. In a month that totals to $270. I live in a household with 2 teenagers, each with a personal computer, an AC unit that’s turned on for half the year, and a television that’s hasn’t been turned off in a very long time. Add that to the increasing prices of other commodities, and my budgeting plan was thrown to complete chaos.
Cutting down on electrical consumption seemed the most feasible way of lowering our monthly utility bills and saving money, but in my setting, it was practically impossible. That was our problem: we obviously wanted a lower energy bill, but we couldn’t lessen our total consumption. That was when my husband and I came up with a brilliant idea. What if we used solar panels to generate some of our own electricity and cut our dues in half, probably more?
**If you want to make your own Solar Panel, this guide is the best deal right now!**
It sounded like the best possible idea. That is, until we inquired about the costs involved. A single commercial solar powered generator system installed in our home would set us back $20,000. Even buying used solar panels, as opposed to brand new ones, were still an expensive option. We wanted to save money, and we could do that if we used solar panels but purchasing a commercially manufactured solution didn’t sound too practical. So, as a joke, I asked my husband, “Why don’t you just build your own?” (lol).
His eyes widened…he hadn’t even thought of that yet he’d heard of it being done before. That was perfect for us since we couldn’t afford a commercial system. So we looked up some plans online and found out about Earth4energy.com and their incredibly simple to follow guide on building solar panels from scratch.
We couldn’t believe how easy everything was after it was all set and done. Furthermore, we couldn’t believe how much those solar companies were charging their customers especially after we found out that we could create equally functional panels for a measly fraction of their prices.
The instructions in the videos were more than helpful. We managed to build a good 3’ by 4’ panel with materials that cost less than $175.68. Provided that it probably isn’t as “efficient” as the commercial ones, we still managed to cut down our electrical bill by almost 30% in the first month. We decided to build another section the following month and our electric bill was reduced by almost 60%. It was absolutely amazing.
We wanted to calculate how much money we have saved from the very beginning when we first used solar panels for our energy, and we found out that the whole system was able to pay for itself in less than a few months of use. Granted we won’t be able to fully disconnect from the grid (that was never our intention anyway), but the big discount we get on energy each month give our bank account more relief than we ever thought possible.
$2. That’s how much I’m paying for electrical consumption (on average) every day now.
**If you want to make your own Solar Panel, this guide is the best deal right now!**
The Viability of Using Solar Panels at Home
Solar power is one of the latest renewable sources of energy that has gained popularity over the past few decades. With increasing oil prices and the environmental hazards brought about by conventional fossil fuel power plants, it’s not surprising that more and more people are appreciating alternative sources for their electrical consumption. Even the government has recently appreciated and given support for the research and development of clean and renewable energy.
Unfortunately, the use of solar panels is relatively new and, like all new technology, is still very expensive, which is the main reason why average homes across America do not make use of this incredible resource.
If you are interested in purchasing new or used solar panels, then chances are, you have probably already contacted your local solar power supplier to ask about possible prices of installation and, consequently, overwhelmed by it’s staggering price. A single solar power installation can set you back more than $20,000 and it would take over three decades before it pays for itself in overall electrical savings. It’s simply not practical.
Fortunately, a group of researchers and renewable energy source enthusiasts have designed a way to make this useful technology available for anybody who wants to have it. They used solar panels made from relatively cheap materials and have crafted a way to fine tune it to perform almost as good as professionally made panels. The methods of construction may not be simple, especially for somebody without any background in building anything, but they remain to be clear and easy to follow.
With this new resource made cheap and available, the public has now increased interest in creating their own solar power systems in their homes and saving a lot of money from monthly electric bills. People who use solar panels to cut their electric bills in half, or even fully support the entire household’s consumption, are greatly appreciating the amount of money they save from utilizing solar power.
If you’re considering just how much it will take build and install a personal solar powered generator system at home, and how much money it can save you if you used solar panels, then you need to know a few things first. Initially, you would want to find out how much electricity you consume in one day. An average American home eats up about 30 kWh per day. Depending on where you live and what electrical company you are a member of, then that amounts to about $36 a day (for 12 cents per kilowatt-hour).
The overall cost of building your own solar panel and installing a full system can set you back to about $200-$300. If you were planning to create a system capable of completely handling one household’s consumption, then you can expect a higher price. One square inch of solar panel generates 350 milliwatts per day. Therefore you will need about 300 square feet in order to support one home. While that does not sound very viable if you used solar panels, it still makes sense.
Obviously, it is not recommended to completely disconnect from the grid because you still have to account that sometimes, solar power is reduced in winter or during cloudy or rainy days. However, for the amount of daylight that you get in one day, if you used solar panels measuring to around 50 square feet, you can actually support one AC unit, or a personal computer, a refrigerator and several lights at your house. Unless you live in a large house which has space for it, it is still not recommended to fully depend on solar panels for power.
Buying Used Solar Panels Versus Building Your Own
While it might seem like a good idea to consider disconnecting from the grid and generating your own electricity in your own backyard, the technology to do so hasn’t been made available until the turn of this century, when renewable sources of energy are constantly being investigated as reliable alternatives to fossil fuels. And one of the biggest renewable resources to recently gain popularity is solar power.
Unfortunately, investing in solar panels to power your home is still very expensive as the technology is relatively new and is still undergoing constant changes. In fact, many people believe that only high end companies which can afford it used solar panels to power up their operations.
The amazing thing about technology is, all you have to do is wait for a while, and all the prices of these expensive equipment would gradually fall down and be accessible to ordinary people like you and me. As for solar power, the waiting time is practically over.
If you are one of the thousands who are looking to tap into this great resource and create your own solar generating system at home, you should first understand the difference between buying new or used solar panels, and building one for your own. At first glance, solar power technology looks far too complex to be built in your garage, but it really is not. In fact, any guy who knows how to use power tools can build his own panels. The materials are relatively easy to acquire and does not need much expertise to handle.
However, most people still don’t appreciate or fully understand the economical value of this incredible resource. You can literally save hundreds of dollars every year in electrical bills alone, not to mention you’ll be indirectly helping the environment by reducing the use of dangerous fossil fuels.
Depending on where you live, the amount of money you can save if you used solar panels to generate your own electricity can vary from 5-16 cents per killowatt-hour consumption. To give you an idea how much this translates to your monthly electric bill, according to the Energy Information Administration, one average American household consumes about 900 kWh every month. That’s more than $140 on electricity alone. In one year, the amount of money you can save if you used solar panels for some of your household electrical consumption can get to as much as $1000 (or more, if your solar generating capacity can increase).
There are a lot of factors to be considered when deciding to utilize solar power at home. For example, people living in states which get higher exposure to sunlight in one year can benefit more from this technology. Solar panels also produce reduced amounts of electricity during winter or if it’s cloudy or raining.
Commercially available solar panels are very expensive, but you’ll be more than happy to know that there are ways which you can tap into this great source of energy without even causing a huge dent in your savings. Buying used solar panels from other people or companies that sell them is one option. However, this equipment should not be expected to perform as well as brand new ones. As it is, the option to build your own is still a viable choice that more and more people are beginning to appreciate.
About Me
Hi, my name is Lisa and I started this blog to share my story with the world. I have been powering my house using all natural methods and it has saved me a ton of money; feel free to look around my blog for more information!