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This book is written for you, the solar panel buyer. Its divided into sections, each covering a part of the process of chhoosing a solar panel.
What is Solar Electric Energy Types of Solar Panels Components Types of Solar Systems Solar Electric vs. Solar Hot Water Sizing and Costing Installing Payback Time Solar Rebates Maintanence & Before You Buy Solar Buyers Checklist How to choose a good solar energy system The different types of solar energy systems The advantages and disadvantages of each type of solar energy system What to look for when choosing a solar panel system How to maximize your solar investment Where to go to nd information on costing and installing solar power Where to go to get solar energy rebates How to choose a solar panel installer How to maintain your solar panel system page 1 Solar Trading Post LLC 2008
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What is Solar Electric Energy Types of Solar Panels Components Types of Solar Systems Solar Electric vs. Solar Hot Water Sizing and Costing Installing Payback Time Solar Rebates Maintanence & Before You Buy Solar Buyers Checklist
Here is a description of the mechanics of how photovoltaics work. And another article on photovoltaics.
To check solar panels costs, click here to visit the Alternative Energy Store
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What is Solar Electric Energy Types of Solar Panels Components Types of Solar Systems Solar Electric vs. Solar Hot Water Sizing and Costing Installing Payback Time Solar Rebates Maintanence & Before You Buy Solar Buyers Checklist
SOLAR TILES These are simply solar panels, but come in a much more integrated form. Instead of panels that sit on top of your roof, solar tiles are integrated into the roong as actual tiles. Tiles are slightly less efcient than panels, so you need more of them to produce power. However, they do the job of roong as well as energy production. This can make them a very cost effective option, especially if your house needs re-roong. Whats in a Solar Electric Panel System? This depends what type of solar panel system you have. The next section explains each type of solar panel system. Its important to note here that the actual solar panels themselves only make up about 50% of the cost of the whole system. The rest of the cost comes from the other components explained in the section below.
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What is Solar Electric Energy Types of Solar Panels Components Types of Solar Systems Solar Electric vs. Solar Hot Water Sizing and Costing Installing Payback Time Solar Rebates Maintanence & Before You Buy Solar Buyers Checklist
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What is Solar Electric Energy Types of Solar Panels Components Types of Solar Systems Solar Electric vs. Solar Hot Water Sizing and Costing Installing Payback Time Solar Rebates Maintanence & Before You Buy Solar Buyers Checklist
NB. Off grid houses can be wired for DC power. This eliminates the need for an inverter (except for some appliances that arent made to work with DC power. There arent many DC sound systems for example.) The advantage with keeping your power DC is that you wont lose power through converting it to AC. Typically, converting DC to AC will mean 6% power loss.
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you will only have power if it is sunny outside and your solar panels are making power.
What is Solar Electric Energy Types of Solar Panels Components Types of Solar Systems Solar Electric vs. Solar Hot Water Sizing and Costing Installing Payback Time Solar Rebates Maintanence & Before You Buy Solar Buyers Checklist OFF GRID Components: Solar Panels, Inverter, Circuit Breaker, Batteries, Charge Controller, Backup Power Off grid systems mean you are not connected to the grid you live in a remote area. These systems are more expensive as you will need storage for your power in the form of batteries. Off grid systems also require a backup power source. You will need backup power if you have many rainy days in a row that use up your stored battery power. Backup power can also be useful for unexpected heavy power usage for instance if you have many people to stay at one time.
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How to Decide which Type of Solar Panel System is the Best for Your Home
If you live off the grid solar panels are usually a better investment than power cabling to connect to the grid. As a rule thumb if you live more than 1 mile away from the grid, the cost of connection will be about the same as the cost of a solar system.
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What is Solar Electric Energy Types of Solar Panels Components Types of Solar Systems Solar Electric vs. Solar Hot Water Sizing and Costing Installing Payback Time Solar Rebates Maintanence & Before You Buy Solar Buyers Checklist
And a solar system gives you free power, unlike the grid, where you are paying for power by the watt. If you live on the grid there is one thing to consider do you get frequent power cuts? If you do get frequent power cuts, then a grid tied system with batteries will provide emergency backup power for when the grid is down. Otherwise, a grid tied system will give you the benets of solar energy and bill savings, without the added expense of batteries. Batteries add approximately 20-30% onto the cost of a grid tied system.
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Solar electric panels work slightly better in cold and sunny climates. As they are harvesting sunlight energy rather than heat, low temperatures are not a problem. The advantage of solar electric is that it not only supplies you power, you can sell excess power back to the grid. The peak production time for solar panels is from 10 3pm. This is when most people are out of the house. During this time, your solar panels are producing energy that isnt being used if youre out, the lights are off, appliances arent running. So this excess power can be sold back to the grid. If you have batteries, this power can then charge your batteries. You could also invest in solar hot water and solar electric. If you are building a new house, this may prove very cost effective.
What is Solar Electric Energy Types of Solar Panels Components Types of Solar Systems Solar Electric vs. Solar Hot Water Sizing and Costing Installing Payback Time Solar Rebates Maintanence & Before You Buy Solar Buyers Checklist
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What is Solar Electric Energy Types of Solar Panels Components Types of Solar Systems Solar Electric vs. Solar Hot Water Sizing and Costing Installing Payback Time Solar Rebates Maintanence & Before You Buy Solar Buyers Checklist
You can also invest in solar hot water and solar electric. If you are building a new house, this may prove very cost effective.
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What is Solar Electric Energy Types of Solar Panels Components Types of Solar Systems Solar Electric vs. Solar Hot Water Sizing and Costing Installing Payback Time Solar Rebates Maintanence & Before You Buy Solar Buyers Checklist
So your 4kW system will make more power if you live in California. If you live in New Jersey, you have on average 4.25 usable sunshine hours per day. So this same 4kW system will make less power.
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What is Solar Electric Energy Types of Solar Panels Components Types of Solar Systems Solar Electric vs. Solar Hot Water Sizing and Costing Installing Payback Time Solar Rebates Maintanence & Before You Buy Solar Buyers Checklist
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What is Solar Electric Energy Types of Solar Panels Components Types of Solar Systems Solar Electric vs. Solar Hot Water Sizing and Costing Installing Payback Time Solar Rebates Maintanence & Before You Buy Solar Buyers Checklist
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PRICE OF SYSTEM This is covered in the section above. However, you can certainly look for a good deal on solar energy systems. The less you pay, the shorter the payback time. Its still important to make sure that you are buying quality, backed by a guarantee.
YOUR POWER BILL If youre being charged an expensive rate for your power, your pay back time will be shorter. The way to work out your power rate is in $/kW. On each power bill, there is a monthly amount for kW used. Take this amount, and divide it by your power bill minus the xed rates. (Fixed rates are what you pay the power company anyway, regardless of how much power youre using.) This will give you your power rate.
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What is Solar Electric Energy Types of Solar Panels Components Types of Solar Systems Solar Electric vs. Solar Hot Water Sizing and Costing Installing Payback Time Solar Rebates Maintanence & Before You Buy Solar Buyers Checklist
ENERGY PRICES This you cant control, however, the faster energy prices rise, the quicker your solar panels will pay themselves off. This is because your solar system will save you more money off your power bill. Your solar panels make the same amount of energy, but this energy is more expensive. Therefore, you spend less on expensive power.
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YOUR HOUSE VALUE Studies have shown that solar panels add to the value of your house. This value added is approximately 15 times the yearly power bill savings. Heres one such study : Oregon Realtors - Solar Value Added to House Resale For example, if your solar system saves you $500 in the rst year, the system has added about $7500 to the value to your house. For solar electric panel payback time, go and check this Solar Calculator thatll give you an estimate of payback time.
Heres another Solar Calculator you might want to have a look at.
NB. its important to realize that values from the Solar Calculator are estimates of payback time, and cost. When installing solar, its recommended to get a professional costing because there are so many variables that affect your solar panel performance.
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What is Solar Electric Energy Types of Solar Panels Components Types of Solar Systems Solar Electric vs. Solar Hot Water Sizing and Costing Installing Payback Time Solar Rebates Maintanence & Before You Buy Solar Buyers Checklist
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WARRANTY When selecting a solar supplier, make sure that you are getting a suitable l length of warranty for the solar system. Solar electric systems should be warrantied for 2025 years. Inverters can also be warrantied for 2-5 years. The reason why a warranty is so important is that solar panels are a long term investment. By having a longer warranty, you are guaranteeing that you will get your return on investment.
Rebates Available
See DSIREUSA.org Each state provides rebates and cash incentives. Some states provide greater benets than others. Most rebates can only be applied for after you have installed your solar system. Some rebates allow you to claim tax rebates from the state for several years after installation of your solar system. There is also a federal rebate you get 30% off the price of your solar system in tax rebates. The maximum amount you can get is $2000. And if you install a solar electric system and a solar hot water system, you can claim for both of these systems separately. This rebate is available to everyone who installs a solar system. One thing to know though, is that most other rebates come on a rst come, rst served basis. Each year, a certain amount of money is allocated to give to people claiming the rebate. Once that amount is reached, either the rebate amount is less, or the rebate is no longer available.
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What is Solar Electric Energy Types of Solar Panels Components Types of Solar Systems Solar Electric vs. Solar Hot Water Sizing and Costing Installing Payback Time Solar Rebates Maintanence & Before You Buy Solar Buyers Checklist
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What is Solar Electric Energy Types of Solar Panels Components Types of Solar Systems Solar Electric vs. Solar Hot Water Sizing and Costing Installing Payback Time Solar Rebates Maintanence & Before You Buy Solar Buyers Checklist
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What is Solar Electric Energy Types of Solar Panels Components Types of Solar Systems Solar Electric vs. Solar Hot Water Sizing and Costing Installing Payback Time Solar Rebates Maintanence & Before You Buy Solar Buyers Checklist
DISCLAIMER The information contained in this manual is based on sources and information reasonably believed to be accurate as of the time it was recorded or created. However, this material deals with topics that are constantly changing and are subject to ongoing changes related to technology and the market place as well as legal and related compliance issues. Therefore, the completeness and current accuracy of the materials cannot be guaranteed. These materials do not constitute legal, compliance, nancial, tax, accounting, or related advice. The end user of this information should therefore use the contents of this manual and the materials as a general guideline and not as the ultimate source of current information and when appropriate the user should consult their own accounting, construction or other advisors. Any case studies, examples, illustrations cannot guarantee that the user will achieve similar results. In fact, your results may vary signicantly and factors such as your climate, house site and many other circumstances may and will cause results to vary. PRIVACY POLICY I never sell, rent, trade or lend any information about my subscribers to anyone, for any reason, whatsoever. I assure you that your privacy is respected and well protected.
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