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It seems that the cost of gas, electricity and oil to provide power to our homes continues to rise every year. This rise often seems to outstrip average inflation. We are often told that there are a number of legitimate reasons for this inflation. One that may not be so well publicized is that many utilities companies are privatized and have to run at a profit. Indeed, the management would not be doing their job if they did not turn a profit.

However, the reason that is most often cited is that the resources that create the power for our homes is becoming harder to find. This not only makes it harder to extract but harder to get to the power stations that create the electricity. The cost is factored into the prices we pay on our monthly utility bills.

Within this context, people are embracing new ways to create power for the home that are considerably cheaper and have a longterm future. A popular option is solar power. Solar power in one form or the other has been around for thousands of years. In more recent times the technology has been developed to take advantage of sunlight energy. Before that it was principally the heat from the sun that was used. This article will discuss how to run a house on solar power using both these sources.

So, you can run a house using the sun’s thermal energy. The best application of this is to heat water that can be used in the home (or even a swimming pool).

The idea behind this technique is to allow a metal plate to be heated by the Sun. This can be made more efficient by painting the surface black and putting insulation on the areas not exposed to the Sun so that the heat is not lost.

By passing colder water past the hot plate, the heat will be transferred to the water. This would create hot water. Depending on the heat of the hot plate, this water could be used directly in the home or it could be connected to the normal hot water boiler. The solar pre-heated water can then by heated to an adequate temperature for the home. The pre-heating should save on energy used by the normal hot water boiler.

Energy used to heat household water is one of the most expensive items on most utility bills. This could be reduced if a solar water heating system is installed.

We can also utilize sunlight to create electricity. This is a more recent development in solar power technology and is known as photovoltaics. Cells made of a silicon semi-conductor react to photons in sunlight. The reaction causes an electron to be thrown loose. The flow of electrons can be controlled using an electric field. This can create a current of electricity. The more photovoltaic cells that are connected the greater the voltage and current that can be produced.

This is direct current (DC) which can be stored in batteries or converted to alternating current (AC). Using an power inverter. AC is used in homes to power lights, and most appliances that plug into wall electrical sockets.

The solar panels that you see on the roof of many houses are a number of PV cells connected together in a series or parallel configuration to increase the amount of electricity that can be produced.

Most people will start using solar panels as part of their existing grid supplied electricity. They are essentially joint venturing with the utility company. All the solar electricity that they create is sent to the utility company and this is deducted from their total bill at the end of the quarter.

The advantage of being connected to the grid is that if there is no Sun then you can use the grid electricity. There is less responsibility on the homeowner which can suit people new to solar power.

The final stage in this process is to go off grid. This means you stop using the utility company and take responsibility for your own power generation. This will require more work and you will probably have a combination of systems to cover all eventualities. So your major system might be solar but you also have a wind power generator if the sun stops shining or the weather becomes bad.

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Tags: Technology