[horselover]

Call me stupid, but I need to know how you use solar power in order to reap the benefits of it first.

So, in terms that a child could understand, please explain how solar power works and how it saves money.

Is it as simple as plugging something into a panel once it's been in the sun for a while? Or as simple as the solar garden lights, by just putting them into the ground? Or is it way more complicated than that?

[workinman]

definalty more complicated... a great book i read is 'solar power living' this book also contains tons of info on hydro and wind power. and cover how many solar panels u'd need, your homes eletric use, wether or not solar is right for u...
there are many uses for solar power... lets say u need a water pump to run a few hours a day to keep a tank filled up.. u could use a direct tie kit that goes directly from the panel to the pump. whenever the sun is out, the panel produces enough electricity to run the pump.
as far as whole house use, u need panels, then batteries which the panels charge. the stored electricity is DC current, this needs to be converted to AC power which is used in ur house... so the dc goes into a converter and then becomes ac... then after passing through safety fuses, u get electricity that comes out at a regular plug..
whole house systems usually cost a couple thousand depending on how much u do yourself.. to produce year round electical benifts, alot of homes are also useing small wind mills that compliment the solar panels... in the winter there tends to be more wind but less sun, in the summer less wind nbut more sun..
hope that helped a little, i'm no expert!!! that book is definatly worth reading.. also there is one of those 'idiots guide to solar living' which i want to get next time i'm at the book store, looks pretty good...

[horselover]

Thanks. I think the idiot's guide will probably suit my needs better, since this does seem so complicated.

[workinman]

i just read what i posted, think i confused myself with that explanation!

[Matc]

A solar panel acts as a power source, so it only gives you power while it is in the sun. The panel itself doesn't store any electricty so it needs to be hooked up either to your power supply or to a battery. You can buy boxes that manage all the power for you, drawing from solar panels before the mains.

[horselover]

So is it worth using solar power if you don't know anything about it?

[otterblotter]

I'm no expert, but...
There are two main types of solar. One is passive, and is rarely being referred to when people discuss it in broad, environmental policy issues. This includes things like architecture with a lot of window surface being on the southside of the house (in the northern hemisphere), and trapping solar heat to heat water. The other, pv cells, is way more complicated. Typically, it is not really cost effective, unfortunately. However, the costs are coming down, some areas offer subsidies and tax breaks as incentive, and over time ( a decade or so, often) it will begin to save you money.

And if you're interested, Scientific American had an article a while back about how the Japanese space agency is working up plans for space solar power. This is obviously irrelevant to whether solar is something you would want to look into, but it is interesting: Essentially, they launch a big panel into space that focuses the rays and sends them to a receiving station on earth.

[horselover]

Hmm, interesting. I would love to use solar power if it wasnt' so complex and complicated. It would save a lot of money for sure.

[workinman]

one company i was talking to reported an average 6 to 10 year return on your investment

[horselover]

Is that good or not? 10 years seems like quite a long time for a return.