Recently the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, H.R. 1424, was passed by Congress that includes a new federal investment tax credit to assist the public in offsetting the wind turbine cost for their homes, businesses or farms. Without any delay, president Bush signed the bill into law.
The Act offers a federal tax credit for 30% of the total installed cost of any wind power system with a 100 kilowatt capacity or less, but the credit will not exceed $4,000. The limitation of the Act is that it only applies to new systems installed from 3 October 2008 through to December 2016, so any current systems will get no tax relief. In addition, for home wind turbines, the credit is further limited to the lesser of $4,000 or $1,000 per kW of capacity.
A couple years ago when New York City had its blackout, many people woke up to the fact that we use way too much electricity as an energy source. They had been taking their electricity for granted.
This event also made us aware of other depleting natural resources, such as oil and that these resources as well should not be taken for granted. Pollution, global warming, high oil costs and the threat of running out of non-renewable resources had put a spark back into the search of alternative energy resources.
An average person, being asked about solar energy usage, will describe solar panels (photovoltaic converters), what can be observed at many households and business properties these days. However, to truly imagine benefits of green solar energy, we should first understand its nature and the ways how solar energy can be produced and used. There are two major parts of solar energy reaching Earth surface: infrared radiation and light. Other significant part of solar radiated energy is represented by UV, X-rays and high energy particles. Those are, fortunately, being cut off by Earth ionosphere and atmosphere, and not reaching the Earth surface in considerable amounts.
Infrared radiation is generally being converted into heat by passive converters (heaters), and used mainly for hot water production. There are many households, especially in California, Florida and other sunny regions, where electric water heaters are being rarely used even during winter period, due to implementation of Sun heat collectors. Other way to benefit from green solar energy is just do not waste it. Another words, use the building design and materials well insulating interior from exterior. We can lower our energy needs and build an energy efficient structure by integrating south facing windows and materials that retain heat, like bricks and wall panels.
The most well known solar energy usage is generation of electricity using semi-conductor, converting energy of sunlight into the energy of charged particles, used further to produce electric current. (The above sentence looks complex. However, it has been borrowed from grade 7 school physics book). One square meter of solar panel is capable to produce approx. 100 Watt of power, depending of sunlight conditions. Electric power is being accumulated in the batteries, to be used during night hours. Efficiency of solar panels is frankly not very high: 10-22% depending on manufacturer and sunlight conditions. This fact leads to quite a large surface area, required to produce substantial amount of electricity. Solar power setup requires an electronic charge controller, batteries and power inverter to produce an alternative current, used to power majority of home appliances.
As you’re looking for more efficient ways to power your house, consider building your own home solar panel. This article will tell you why.
The Benefits Of Solar Energy
Renewable energy is one of the hottest topics around the world, given today’s global energy crisis, and the use of solar energy has been in the forefront. Installing a Home Solar Panel is a great way to save energy and reduce your cost of living.
You might be surprised to find out just what a home solar panel can do for you. Let’s examine some of these.
Running an entire house on solar energy requires quite a few panels. Learn about solar energy system sizes from a professional in this free energy conservation video. Expert: Roger Bacon Bio: Roger Bacon is the owner of RGB Home Repair and Renovation in Santa Barbara California. He has experience in all phases of home repair and renovations such as plumbing, heating and solar power. Filmmaker: Diana Bacon
