Is It Time For DIY Solar Panels?

With ever increasing energy bills, this video shows how one householder decided it was time to fit solar panels to her house.

DIY Solar Panels

Once you’ve installed your solar panels, you’ll want to save the solar energy which they provide. In this video, ABC looks at a solar film that you can apply to your windows.

Make Sure Your Solar Panels Don’t Cost You More Money!

Before you order your do-it-yourself home solar energy system and start building your own solar panels, you might want to save yourself a big headache (and loads of money!) by looking into your local zoning. If you live on acreage in an unincorporated area, you might still be subject to some state restrictions. So it is always wise do ask some questions and do some research at the beginning of your solar panel project’s planning process (instead of waiting until the money has been spent!).

Solar Panels Restrictions In The United States

In the United States, zoning restrictions usually are the least restrictive at the federal level. They become increasingly restrictive at the most local levels. This normally means , the state is less restrictive than the county; the county is less restrictive than the town or city; the town or city is less restrictive than the homeowners’ association. If you do your zoning research at the most restrictive level applicable to your location, you should be OK.

If you live in a community that has a homeowner’s association, start there. Find out if there are rules about installing solar panels (or any structures) on your roof, or if there are rules about the kind of roofing materials you can use. It’s not the end of the world if your discover restrictions. You’ll just have to develop a proposal that your association board will find so appeal that they’ll approve it with ease.

Your Solar Panels Friend Is The Local Planning Office

If your zoning comes from your town or city regulations, you’ll need to go the planning office and find out what your local zoning laws say about solar panel installations. It may take you some time to find out exactly who to talk with; it may be the zoning department, or the planning department, or the building code department. But once you uncover the proper authority, find out what solar panel permits you need, and what the process is that you’ll need to follow. If there are no town or city zoning codes in place that cover solar panels, you’ll need to research at the next level.

The next zoning authority level is your county. If you can find the county website online, you may be able to get answers without having to visit the county offices in person. Either way, though, you’ll need to find out which department handles zoning and permits, and get your answers there. If the county has no zoning regarding solar panels, keep asking questions. Someone at the county level should be able to tell you whether your state has any laws in place.

Ask Solar Panel Suppliers And Installers

You can also approach all of this research by finding local solar equipment suppliers and installers. Since the zoning regulations affect their businesses, they’ll usually know exactly what the laws are, if any. Be sure you ask a reputable, licensed business person, though. And double check their answers, don’t just rely on what they tell you. With solar panels, as with any “home improvement” there are a lot of scams out there that are easy to avoid by doing a little research of your own.

To make your own solar panels click here

Solar Panels

DIY Solar Panels – Greenbot gives 3 tips for buying Solar Panels.

12v solar panels (12v) are some of the most popular types of portable solar panel

systems. How much energy does a 12v solar panel give you? Perhaps not enough to heat your

house, but enough to run some of your smaller electrical devices, or recharge

their rechargeable batteries.

These portable 12v solar panels operate like large solar panels, but produce less

electrical power due to their smaller size. Like their larger cousins, 12v solar panels

operate best under direct full sun conditions. Most of them will work on cloudy

and rainy days, but it will take longer to produce the electricity to charge

your device. Most won’t operate with indoor lighting, but there are solar

panels under development that will be able to use indoor light. They’re likely

to reach the consumer market in another 4 or 5 years.

Good portable panel systems have built-in regulators, meaning they’ll

automatically adjust the amount of energy they produce to the amount that the

device draws. So be sure that the portable panels you buy have this feature,

otherwise there’s a danger of overcharging (or “frying”) the device that you’re

trying to recharge.

Most portable 12v solar panels fold down into sizes small enough to fit into a large

pocket or purse. But you can’t fold the cells themselves. Think of a weight

belt. It’s foldable and flexible when compared to a barbell. But it folds

because small weights are sewn into a flexible fabric, not because the weights

are foldable. It’s the same with the foldable 12v solar panels: they fold because

the solar cells are small enough to be mounted on foldable fabric.

So even though portable 12v solar panels are sold as being durable and waterproof,

you still need to be careful when handling them. If you fold or crease the

solar cell itself, you’ll probably break it. So don’t fold the cell, or put the

portable panels in the washing machine, or poke them with sharp objects. Your

weight belt will survive that kind of treatment, but your portable 12v solar panel

won’t.

One more word of caution: portable 12v solar panels can’t recharge regular

batteries. It can only charge the rechargeable type. This may be obvious, but

many people try to recharge regular batteries with 12v solar panels.

You will need additional connector equipment in order to use the portable

panels, so plan for the additional expense. You’ll need connectors that fit

with the recharging plugs on your portable devices. And if you plan to use your

portable solar panels to trickle charge your car, boat or snowmobile battery,

you might need a set of battery clips.

“Trickle charging” can keep your vehicle’s battery fully charged. Here’s how it

works: place the portable 12v solar panel on a surface where it receives the most

sun; then plug it into the cigarette lighter socket, or attach the clips to the

vehicle’s battery. This can be a great help in really cold climates where

temperatures drop below freezing, and you have to keep your car parked outside

all day.

Portable solar panels are still relatively expensive compared to using grid

electricity at home or in the office. But they make sense if you spend a lot of

time camping, hiking or working from your car. And 12v solar panels are a great backup systems

for times when the power goes out.

12v solar panels

This is a cropped version of :Image:Zonnecollectoren.JPG. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Solar Panels…There’s much talk about solar energy solving the world’s energy problems. But wouldn’t it be smart to know if there are any dangers or hidden negative issues before starting a large project? Here are 3 things to consider before you spend your money:

1) Toxic materials.

Some of the components in the newer thin film solar panels are toxic to the environment. However, this should only become a problem when you dispose of the solar panels (which probably won’t be for another 20 years or more), it’s important to know that the panels will need safe disposal when that time comes. But new disposal and recycling methods are being researched and developed. Hopefully, they will be in place by the time you need to use them.

2) New Technology.

If you read the news about solar energy research, you will be amazed at the number of companies that are developing new systems and products. Research into solar panels and related technologies is a worldwide growth industry, with new discoveries being made every month. There is a real temptation to hold off on your solar energy project so you can use the latest technology. But not every prototype product with market potential actually makes it to the consumer. Solar panels are no different than any other new product in the process of research and development. Sometimes the best ideas just don’t work out as expected, or are just too expensive to produce. So it’s always a bit of a gamble to wait too long for breakthroughs in new technology. You could be unnecessarily wasting several months or years of using your solar energy system.

3) Old Technology.

Are you afraid of buying your photovoltaic system right before the next new product breakthrough? This dilemma is the other side of the coin from waiting too long for a breakthrough. The fear is that a cheaper and better technology is right around the corner, but you just spent thousands on “old” technology.

You can do a lot to prevent this scenario by doing research on the internet or the library. There are professional business journals that have the latest news on industrial R and D (research and development), and forecast when new products will reach the consumer market. But many of these journals cost several hundreds or thousands of dollars for a yearly subscription, so only libraries can afford them. If your library doesn’t subscribe, ask your librarian to get it for you. Then you’ll need to decide whether you want to wait for the newest product, or go with a traditional system that might be more reliable and predictable because it has withstood the test of time.

Related articles

• Raising the roof on solar panels and how you can benefit(moneyexpert.com)

  ---

Micro-scaled photovoltaic devices may one day be used to deliver chemotherapeutic drugs directly to tumors, rendering chemotherapy less toxic to surrounding tissue.

View full post on ScienceDaily: Solar Energy News