admin answers:

You would need a room full of environmentally unfriendly batteries to provide power after sunset and so this is not exactly a green solution. It would probably be greener to rely on traditional electricity after dark.

Use PV panels for daytime power by all means and solar water heating for the house and, if you have one, swimming pool. If you need space heating in winter (I’ve been in Athens in sub-zero temperatures) you might consider ground source heating if you have enough room or can have a bore hole.

Do NOT get a domestic wind turbine unless the house is in an exposed location. Most never repay the carbon invested in their manufacture and shipping and do not generate enough electricity to break even before they wear out.

The economics will all depend on subsidies and local prices for electricity and equipment. PV panels are expensive and would take about 20 years to pay for themselves in the UK without the subsidies, solar water heating is a much quicker payback and has been in use in Greece for over 20 years. Ground source heating may not be worthwhile if it is not cold for long enough.

admin answers:

I have not heard of a practical dye-based panel so far.

They may be lower cost than silicon, but that doesn’t mean lower cost per watt. They may have 1/10 the cost per area of silicon, but I think the power output is much, much less than 1/10. If the link you cite is what I think it is, then the panels you make there produce microamps of current. A typical silicon wafer will give on the order of 5 amps of current (thousands of times more).

It’s also poor economy when the dye-based panel wears out in a year, and needs to be replaced.

admin answers:

“Solar panel”, is a pretty broad term. It could be used to describe photovoltaics (PV) but it could also be used to refer to solar heating or other methods. However, in common language “solar panel” usually refers to PV.

admin answers:

Shop in china, HUDIWAILING
B and Q in England (all over) big brand
LEAIDER
in france

Brows the other posts and pages on this site http://diysolarpanels.org.uk

admin answers:

It is expensive if you just look at the price and say Wow! That is a lot of money. But when you compare it to renting electricity for the next 30 years and total the cost.. Well you end up making money.

You should find the package system you want which comes with instructions on how to install photovoltaic panels. Install the parts of the system you can and hire an electrician to run the wires and make the connections. You could save a great deal of money doing it that way.

Mounting the solar modules on the roof is by far the hardest part of the whole install. The inverter and charge controllers all have a Pos and a Neg markings and so does the solar modules making the wireing hookups easy. However to hook up to the utility you have to have a building inspector sign the paper showing he has inspected it. Catch 22 is you have to have an electrician sign the permit or the building inspector will not approve the system. If you install it wrong your home could be flaged as unsafe and you could end up being put out of your home till the wireing is brought up to code.

It would depend greatly on your particular skills and how big a project you have in mind i.e. number of photovoltaic panels you intend to install.

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I am installing photovoltaic panels , plus I am making some of my own design. The biggest rub is the cost of the PV cells. They are coming down a bit but not fast enough for mainstream users.

admin answers:

You will need 25 solar panels wired together. How you wires the solar panels together (i.e. Series and parallel connections) will be determined not only by the electrical specs on the solar panel but also by what type of system it is and what equipment you are using.

If you are doing a grid-tied photovoltaic panels system, you connections will be determined by the voltage window of the inverter you are using. You can see a selection of grid-tied inverters here….

Http://www.altestore.com/store/Inverters/Grid-Tie-Inverters-On-Grid/c560/

If you are doing an off-grid battery based system, or a grid-tied with battery back up PV system, you connections will be determined by the voltage window and ampacity rating of the charge controller you are using. You can see a selection of charge controllers here….

Http://www.altestore.com/store/Charge-Controllers/c432/

Hope this info helps.

-Dave C.

admin answers:

Wind will be useless if you do not live in a windy location and because most of us do not, most “home turbines” never repay the carbon invested in them. If, however, you live in a windy location and are able to erect a larger turbine, then wind could work for you. You also have to consider the potential noise nuisance from turbines if you get a conventional turbine. The vertical axis turbines tend to be quieter but they may be less efficient because there are parts moving against the wind. Also how do you plan to maintain supply when it is not windy for several days at a time?

Again to get the most out of solar photovoltaic panels you need to be somewhere where you get sunshine across the year. They do generate on cloudy days but at a lower level. If you live far from the equator there will be far more power on long summer days than there will be on the shorter winter ones.

People that did not do the research but installed both often say that solar PV is better than wind.

If you are trying to cut your carbon footprint you should start with carbon saving measures like better insulation, solar water heating and ground/air source heating/cooling.

admin answers:

Yes, provided that you have sufficient power from the photovoltaic panels. You need several panels to equal that of common household AC power. 8, 250 watt panels, wired in parallel, with a large enough battery bank for dark time storage, with a properly sized DC to AC inverter would give you about 1, 115Vac, 15 amp circuit.

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If u r considering 2 making ur own photovoltaic panels, I dont have the info that u r looking 4.

However if u want to charge lead acid batteries using photovoltaic cells note the following points.

Consider the voltage and Ah (Ampere Hour) capacity of the battery. For example 12V 7Ah.

Consider purchasing photovoltaic panels which have a rating of at least two to three volts above ur battery voltage. I.e. 15V and a current rating of at least 500mA at bright sunshine. Thumb rule – As current rating of panel increases, the size of the photovolatic panels increases.

If a 15V panel is non-standard, then consider connecting two panels of 12V in series and insert a regulator circuit (LM317 is a good choice) in between the panel and the battery. In this case even though the cost is double, it will have a wide input range – from cloudy climate to bright sunshine and u dont have to worry about the battery not being charged.

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You can get specifications from the Internet. Just type in “solar panel.” Photoelectric cells are quite small, but not of much use, except in conjunction with other cells. Size is not where most solar decisions start. The first important attribute, is the wattage of solar modules (panels). This is determined by the load which is to be satisfied. There is a lot of information on photovoltaic panels and solar systems on the Internet.

For More Information About Solar Water Heating

Good Reading about Photovoltaic Panels