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Consider the following issues: What renewable sources of energy are available? Which sources could be used to supply a household’s needs? How could each source be used? Where would the home have to be located to use each source? What equipment would be needed? Where would this equipment be located? What backup systems should be included? For all you smart people out there, please answer all of these questions!

Renewable sources: solar wind tide wave geothermal, while not renewable, is often classed in this area as it is inexhaustable. Depends on the household and where it is located. Windy area, use wind power. Lots of sun, use solar power. solar array would be on the roof. wind generator would be on a tower. You will need a large array of batteries to supply power when the sun/wind is not available. Alternatively, sell power back to the electric utility company and use power from them during periods of no sun or wind. if this is an isolated house with no access to the power grid, I’d have a diesel generator for backup.

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This post has been reviewed by this Alternative Energy for the Home forum and has been found to be a positive contributor to this blog.

Workable energy resource requirements, Independent of being Renewable: 1)Energy available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and 365 days a year. 2)At retail level directly compete with energy resources for today’s activity - if not, sellable spin-off benefits to subsidize the cost. 3)Transportable 4)Technology available. 5)No more environmentally harmful than competing energy resources. 6)Supplies close enough to consumer that distribution losses due to capacity doesn’t become an issue. 7)Politicians that back any solution be able to explain it to their constituents. The area below the question wasn’t answering the question, but the breath of the question. I’ve heard you are brilliantly creative. Economically there is at least 1 item more disastrous than investing in renewable energy infrastructure, not having a replacement for fossil fuel. I don’t wish to taint your creativity with my solution. The governments have tryed thinking small with little addition to supply. I’ve gone the opposite route to change the economics of Renewable Energy. Please be as creative as the person was that during WW II came up with running the exhaust through aircraft feul tanks to mitigate possibily of explosition when shot.

To answer your primary question, it just needs to be less expensive than fossil fuels…oil in particular. 1. Very few “direct” renewable sources are available non-stop. A few would be tidal power, geothermal power and hydroelectric power. There are many “indirect” sources, such as biofuels (ethanol, biodiesel, methane) which are the process of extracting energy from materials. 2. Nothing is really practical (at this point) to compete. Oil is still too cheap. 3. Storage either in liquid fuel form or conversion to electricity offers the two easiest ways to move large amounts of energy. 4. There’s many viable technologies available today, but they are under continuous refinement to make them better, more efficient, less costy, and ultimately, more competitive 5. This one is always fun. Wind and hydroelectric don’t pollute, but one is blamed for killing migratory birds and the other is hated for destroying habitats surrounding rivers. Both offer the most promise as the next best source of energy compared to fossil fuels. 6. Well, this depends on whether the consumer is in an energy rich or energy poor area. If you live in an area where there’s ample sun, good wind, and/or rivers you can dam up, then you’re living close to where you can produce it. If you can’t produce enough energy from the sources immediately available to you, then you will either need to conserve more or import it. 7. Politicians are likely only going to back solutions that prove to be overwhelmingly beneficial to their constituents. You will get corn belt pols that back ethanol for the obvious positive economic impact that it will have on their areas. Likewise, wind in areas that it could prove beneficial. There is no one magic bullet for every energy need, that needs to be understood. Some sources will win over others, based on the application and its availability. But until oil gets more expensive (like over $100 per barrel) then most alternative sources just simply can’t economically compete with today’s renewable harnessing technology.

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I want to know how you can store energy using a residential solar panels. The energy stored needs to be stored so that a light or laptop charger can plug in to it.

Solar panel is not a energy storing device, rather it converts light energy to electrical energy and this energy either can directly used to run instruments or can be fed to battery for storing. The working of the solar panel is like the inverse action of a LED, i.e. a LED converts electrical energy in to light where as a residential solar panel converts light energy in to electrical energy, basically it is a P-N junction diode.

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I want to put a residential solar panel(s) on my roof. What components do I need besides the solar panels? solar power controller? wires? How do I hook it into my home’s electrical system and about how much electricity could I generate and save? Would the panels pay for themselves over time? Any help will be appreciated.  Thank you!

Solar water heating panels are often heavy, depending on their design. Solar electric panels are rarely heavy - at mabye 3 lbs. per square foot, including mounting racks, they are not much heavier than typical roofing materials. Whether the panels pay for themselves is a highly individualized answer, dependent on your state and local rebates (if any), how much sun your area gets, and the cost of your electricity. Just about any Californian can break even, but it can take 5-20 years. Prices are dropping, so this should get better next year (but federal tax credits expire - could be renewed, a Democratic president would be unlikely to veto). A house that is conservative in electrical usage (this usually means no air conditioners in the summer or electric heat in the winter) generally has enough roof area to supply 100% of its electrical needs. We have 10% of our roof dedicated to panels, and it supplies essentially 100% for us. The best way to get answers to your questions is to ask a few solar companies to do a free analysis and quote on your house. You can always say no. If you’re thinking of doing it yourself, that’s possible, but not trivial. It’s also possible that a professional could install it for less than you could if you bought the parts yourself and installed it yourself. We installed our own, but the experience is a little dated - from 2006. There’s a video at the bottom of the page below, if you want to see what we did.  Free energy it’s on the way.

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I really would like to have my own solar panel, but i don’t know how. Most of the panels i have looked at are for car batteries but i’m not sure how this would be able to be transfered into electricity. I’m looking to power things like lamps, a stereo and various chargers for phones and ipods. Please explain to me how i could adapt a solar panel to my uses. Thank you.

Sounds like you would just like to have some fun with solar panels, nothing serious. It’s not worth converting the solar energy to 120 volts in order to plug in your normal wall adapters, unless you start to spend more money. A stereo could easily be powered by a solar panel, that is, something like a boombox that already uses a 12V adapter. You would need to find the right power plug from Radio Shack, and wire a 12V panel in, yourself. If you’re not handy with electronics, you’ll need the help of a friend who is. 

While the lamp is mediocre for an LED light source, the panel is excellent - real polysilicon wafers, in an aluminum frame. Same construction as the kind of panels in commercial installations.

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I have a 3000w inverter with a 10 amps charger, 12v 800a battery.will i have continuous power?
Yes, you can power the battery charger from the inverter. And it will appear to work for a while. People actually do this, and are mystified when the battery runs down. Our basic understanding of thermodynamics is that energy is conserved. Both the inverter and charger generate heat. Thus, you will actually run down the battery by charging it, because the inverter uses more power than the charger puts out. The pwer lost comes out mostly as heat. Thus, for alternative energy, you need an energy source to charge your battery. So, no, you won’t have continous power by hooking the battery charger to the inverter, you will get a dead battery.

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 I am a substitute teacher on a limited income and we want to convert to residential solar panels and wind power if possible. The home was built in the 1920’s. Please only serious answers!

The first step is to weatherize (i nsulate ) your home there are grants in most cities to do this . Also there are renuable energy grants and tax credits for energy effecient heating , cooling & insulation through the end of 2007. One easy conversion is to install a solar water heater. Also consider passive solar space heating.

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Looking to make a balance between high electric bills and alternative energy options that can lead to potential savings.

Absolutely… Grid-tied systems deliver power from solar panels and reduce dependence on your local electric company. Simply connecting your solar electric system to your utility line gives the advantage of (a) power from your electric company, and (b) alternative energy savings that last you a lifetime. Balancing the two sources works well as you get cheap home electricity, savings on your monthly bills, and financial tax incentives through tax rebates. For energy-conscious homeowners, it’s the way of the future.

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in other words is it possible to form a solar panel in a thick wire? what i mean is, can it be done not a matter of output moreso of capability to be made.

It needs the surface area. If a wire was used you would need panels to focus the light on the wire so no space is saved.

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