Home Solar Power – Reduced Costs Make Solar Energy A Viable Solution

If you have heart palpitations every time you open up your monthly or quarterly utility bill then you have no doubt considered other ways to get energy to your home. The bottom line in your thinking is obviously the cost. You want zero bills or at least a reduced cost for using energy. Solar power can offer you this opportunity but there is a perception that it is expensive to set up. This puts many people off because they don't have a large amount of money to put into the project up front. It becomes hard to justify when you have other more pressing needs, like paying the mortgage, especially when you already have electricity coming to the home from the grid (despite the cost). However, this is not strictly true these days. There are two ways to go if you want to get a home solar power system working for you.

You can look into all the state, regional and federal government incentives that encourage people to install a solar power system. There are basically two types of incentives.

You could get a grant up front that can be put towards the cost of purchase and installation of the system. Grants seem to be fairly rare because most organizations want some sort of proof that you have actually used the money as you said you would. They are far more comfortable in giving you a rebate once the system is installed. This may be down to how they fund these sorts of incentives and the amount they give out can often be dependent on the amount of power the system outputs. So they need to measure the system before they can hand over any cash.

Another incentive that many governments are introducing is the concept of net metering. Net metering makes installing a solar system in the home more viable if you are staying on the grid and using your solar power as a supplement to your energy needs. Net metering means that you can sell the electricity that your solar system makes back to the utility company at the same price they sell you the electricity. As you can imagine, this can offset the cost of your utility bill considerably.

Not all states and countries have net metering laws, which means the utility company buys your electricity at a wholesale rate and then charges it out to other  people or even you at a retail price.

Rebates and net metering vary from country to country and state to state so it pays to do your research into these incentives before getting a home solar power system.

Another way to get a home solar power system is to purchase a DIY kit on the internet. The good DIY kits are actually pretty good at detailing how to make your own solar panels that can generate electricity or solar collectors that can heat water (you can even find designs to make solar ovens if that interests you). Most guides will cost about $50. The claims they make are that you can build a  solar panel system for around $200.

They give you information on how to source cheap parts and diagrams on how to put them all together. I don't think the system you build based on these designs will give you the same amount of power as a professionally designed and installed system but at a total outlay of $250 the risk is pretty minimal. And you will find that once you have built one system, you can build another and so on until you can generate a fair amount of power for the home.

Not only will you benefit from the energy you create but you will get a better understanding of electricity generation and all the other aspects of creating energy. You will learn about saving (or rather wasting less) of the energy that comes into the home. You may even be able to build home solar power systems for you family and friends with a bit of experience.
   
See my review of the best selling home solar power DIY kit (that also shows you how to build a wind turbine) – go to Earth4Energy Review.