You see your electric bill rates slowly increasing over time and its taking more out of your pay check to make the payment to your provider. It's time to try to reduce the energy usage by whatever means you can around the home.
You may be amazed with what you can come up with to help or you may already know what you need to do but could not get motivated to implement them.
You may want to gather the family around and explain that it is necessary to reduce the electric bill and ask for everyone's cooperation. Explain what you want everyone to do and why it is important.
How many houses do you see at night that appear to be lit up in every room and outside, this is wait of energy. Make sure everyone turns the lights off when they leave a room, or if there is more than one light in a room, not to turn on all of them if possible.
This would be the best first step to take but you may have to retrain yourselves to remember to turn them off.
Change out the incandescent bulbs for compact fluorescent or cfl bulbs. The initial costs for these are high but if you buy multi packs of them the costs go down. These bulbs burn a lot cooler and they use less watts to produce their incandescent equivalent.
If you use an air conditioner, it would operate more efficient because of less heat load from the bulbs.
Look at your televisions, fans and any other appliances that are used in the home. Make sure they are off when not being used. If you have landscape lighting you can set them on an outdoor timer to turn them off later at night so they are not on all night.
Do a walk around the home and find everything you can do that would help increase the energy efficiency of your home.
July 7, 2011
October 8, 2010
Have You Considered Living Off the Grid?
Have you ever considered living "Off The Grid" having your own ability to supply energy to your home or cabin. The possibility of living off the grid is open to anyone.
If you think you will have to give up all your luxuries, this really is not true. You would have to scale your system to the amount of appliances and such that you want to operate.
The use of renewable energy has become more efficient due to the higher demand and better technology available. The process of using renewable energy is simple, you need sun, wind or water which will give you the power to generate your electricity.
You can then convert this energy with an inverter into usable electricity for the home. Any excess electricity produced is stored in rechargeable batteries for future use.
Except for maintenance of your batteries, these systems are pretty much automated. Making sure you do exceed your supply and demand should be your only other task. If you have sized your system to meet your needs, you should have a very sufficient source of energy.
The feeling of independence from the grid is great, you are on your own with your own energy source and you are doing your part to help the environment and the effects of global warming.
Not to mention saving on your energy bill. When you first get set up you will have that initial cost for equipment and labor for installation, but it will pay for itself in time and you will have the freedom you want.
If you think you will have to give up all your luxuries, this really is not true. You would have to scale your system to the amount of appliances and such that you want to operate.
The use of renewable energy has become more efficient due to the higher demand and better technology available. The process of using renewable energy is simple, you need sun, wind or water which will give you the power to generate your electricity.
You can then convert this energy with an inverter into usable electricity for the home. Any excess electricity produced is stored in rechargeable batteries for future use.
Except for maintenance of your batteries, these systems are pretty much automated. Making sure you do exceed your supply and demand should be your only other task. If you have sized your system to meet your needs, you should have a very sufficient source of energy.
The feeling of independence from the grid is great, you are on your own with your own energy source and you are doing your part to help the environment and the effects of global warming.
Not to mention saving on your energy bill. When you first get set up you will have that initial cost for equipment and labor for installation, but it will pay for itself in time and you will have the freedom you want.
September 8, 2010
Power of the Sun – Available Solar Energy
The most available source of energy to us is the sun, but it is the least taken advantage of for our use. While it’s possible we may be using up our resources on earth, we should be taking advantage of the sun which continues to shine day after day.
We can put solar energy to use for multiple tasks in the following areas.
1. Cooking with solar energy can be done with a solar cooker. It's only fuel is the sun, no other fuel source is required. The larger the cooker the more food you can prepare. You would be able to boil, roast and bake with a solar cooker.
The cooking times can be longer, but with this free source of energy it doesn't cost you a thing.
2. You can generate electricity with solar energy. Run all of your electrical appliances with solar power and store the extra electricity in batteries for future use.
3. Use the energy of the sun to heat your house. Using passive solar heating methods you would allow the heat of the sun to warm the house in the winter thus minimizing the need for other heating sources.
You could build your own solar generator that will convert the solar energy into electrical energy. The suns energy is collected by the photovoltaic cells in a panel.
The dependence on the electrical grid is reduced when you are producing your own power which can help save some of earths resources and you will have power when others don't when the power grid is down.
We can put solar energy to use for multiple tasks in the following areas.
1. Cooking with solar energy can be done with a solar cooker. It's only fuel is the sun, no other fuel source is required. The larger the cooker the more food you can prepare. You would be able to boil, roast and bake with a solar cooker.
The cooking times can be longer, but with this free source of energy it doesn't cost you a thing.
2. You can generate electricity with solar energy. Run all of your electrical appliances with solar power and store the extra electricity in batteries for future use.
3. Use the energy of the sun to heat your house. Using passive solar heating methods you would allow the heat of the sun to warm the house in the winter thus minimizing the need for other heating sources.
You could build your own solar generator that will convert the solar energy into electrical energy. The suns energy is collected by the photovoltaic cells in a panel.
The dependence on the electrical grid is reduced when you are producing your own power which can help save some of earths resources and you will have power when others don't when the power grid is down.
January 1, 2010
Why Not Build Your Own Solar Panels
Have you been thinking of buying solar panels or a kit and putting together your own solar power system for your home or vacation retreat? Why not make your own panels, if you have been thinking of installing your own system why not make your own panels too. It is not that difficult to do and you will benefit from the experience in that you can later trouble shoot and repair them now that you know how they go together.
You should have a good manual or guide to follow if you are building your own system. The basic materials are found locally and you can easily find the photovoltaic cells at inexpensive costs. Check eBay, someone is always selling pieces for solar panel installation. Even a damaged panel could give you some cells to use.
You can figure about a days work to build a 100 watt panel. This size panel could operate a small workshop or some small appliances. Find yourself a good manual to use, getting the best with detailed instructions will make your job easier to accomplish. The cost should not be much concern because of the savings you will benefit from building your own solar power system.
If you had to purchase a complete system and paid for installation it would not be cheap but you would have recouped your investment over time. Building your own, you would save a lot of money buying your own from parts and saving on the labor costs and it will pay for itself much quicker.
Use Solar Energy
You should have a good manual or guide to follow if you are building your own system. The basic materials are found locally and you can easily find the photovoltaic cells at inexpensive costs. Check eBay, someone is always selling pieces for solar panel installation. Even a damaged panel could give you some cells to use.
You can figure about a days work to build a 100 watt panel. This size panel could operate a small workshop or some small appliances. Find yourself a good manual to use, getting the best with detailed instructions will make your job easier to accomplish. The cost should not be much concern because of the savings you will benefit from building your own solar power system.
If you had to purchase a complete system and paid for installation it would not be cheap but you would have recouped your investment over time. Building your own, you would save a lot of money buying your own from parts and saving on the labor costs and it will pay for itself much quicker.
Use Solar Energy
December 3, 2009
You Can Build Your Own Solar Water Heater
Have you ever opened a car door after the car has been sitting out in the sun, you felt all that hot air come out of the door as you opened it. This heating of the air is the same principle behind how you can heat your water. For heating your water you would have to have a solar collector and holding tank for the water.
The solar collector would be used to heat your water as it flowed through it. The collector is normally a box like fixture that has water lines that runs through it. A metal plate painted black would be at the bottom of the box that would absorb the suns energy and heat up. The box would have a glass cover that would act like the cars windows and intensify and hold the energy or heat inside.
The solar collector would work best facing south unless you live close to the equator in which case it would be pointed more up. In the winter you can still heat your water unless you live in an area that gets lots of freezes. In that case you should use an active solar heater with a pump that circulates the water. A passive system has no moving parts and relies on the principle of hot water flowing up and the cooler water staying lower.
You can assemble your own solar hot water heater if you had a set of plans. You can find used parts or scrounge parts to use for assembly. Building your own solar heater would be fun and it would help reduce your energy expenses. For a heater on a smaller scale you could build one to use for an outdoor shower.
The solar collector would be used to heat your water as it flowed through it. The collector is normally a box like fixture that has water lines that runs through it. A metal plate painted black would be at the bottom of the box that would absorb the suns energy and heat up. The box would have a glass cover that would act like the cars windows and intensify and hold the energy or heat inside.
The solar collector would work best facing south unless you live close to the equator in which case it would be pointed more up. In the winter you can still heat your water unless you live in an area that gets lots of freezes. In that case you should use an active solar heater with a pump that circulates the water. A passive system has no moving parts and relies on the principle of hot water flowing up and the cooler water staying lower.
You can assemble your own solar hot water heater if you had a set of plans. You can find used parts or scrounge parts to use for assembly. Building your own solar heater would be fun and it would help reduce your energy expenses. For a heater on a smaller scale you could build one to use for an outdoor shower.
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