There are a number of ways to make your home more energy-efficient. These methods are practical and cost-effective. The bottom line is that they will save you money with heating, cooling and supplying electricity to your lights and appliances.
Solar Panels For Your Home
One solution is add solar panels to your home. These can used to supply electricity and also can be used to help creating hot water in your potable water supply.
Solar panels absorb sunlight using photovoltaic cells. These photovoltaic cells create direct current, which is type of electricity that flows in one direction. However the appliances used in your home use alternating current, which is a type of electricity the runs in two different directions through the wiring of your home in phase system. Your solar panel system will therefore need an inverter to convert the DC electrical energy into usable AC electrical energy.
Most home owners install these panels on their roofs. However this is not say you cannot setup a row of these panels in your backyard where the most hours of sunlight hit the ground.
Building solar panel with proven plans would be a practical solution helping to reduce energy costs and make your home more energy-efficient. However this will be technical task and proper guidance will be necessary for most individuals.
Roof Top Solar Panels
Home are being constructed with roof tiles that have solar panels built-in them. These roof tiles look like a normal roof but solar panel are built into them and will help subsidize your energy bill.
Windows as Solar Panels
Recently the solar power industry have found methods to use windows to provide energy for a building. These solar-powered windows can be used to replace the existing windows in a building and make the structure more energy-efficient. These windows contain tiny solar cells that convert sunlight into energy. This energy is converted into electrical energy and can used directly. Excess electrical energy is stored in a battery to used later.. Apparently one of these windows can supply enough energy to charge a cell phone twice a day.
Other Energy Conservation Methods
Using energy-efficient light bulbs is one way to make you household more energy-efficient. There are a number of energy-efficient light bulbs available to the consumer. These include the halogen incandescents, compact fluorescent lamps and light emitting diodes (LEDs). These are very popular and can be purchased in various hardware and grocery stores.
Energy inefficient incandescent light bulbs are being phased out but are still available at lower cost per unit. However they have a shorter life span when compared to these more efficient sources of light. You do the math.
Best Regards
Source by Paul Luciw
