Solar

Not everyone can afford the $20,000 plus cost of installing a solar power system. Fortunately there are other ways to reduce your energy bill without getting a second mortgage. Solar heating, in particular, has become a great way to reduce your footprint without shelling out the cost of a new car. Newer technologies can also be used to reduce energy use for as little as $50.

The largest of these systems is a solar water heating system. Instead of using expensive solar panels to generate electricity, this system uses panels that are dark colored to capture as much heat as possible. These panels are then used to heat water that can be used throughout the home. The cost of these systems vary based on how complicated you make the system, and cost recovery varies by region, taking up to 20 years in northern climates.

Similar to solar water heating is using solar systems to heat or cool buildings. In these systems air is moved through the heating elements rather than water. Since most of the heating is done at night, these system often use use large concrete blocks or even rocks to trap the heat during the day and let it out at night. Solar air conditioning runs almost identically to your traditional air conditioner only the heating element is sunlight rather than a gas or electric powered source. These cooling systems are often coupled with heating solutions allowing the solar energy to drive the air conditioner during the day and using the collected heat to warm the building at night.

Another common use of solar heating is in pool heaters. This setup works the same as the solar water heater only instead of water for home use, filtered pool water is run through the system. When coupled with a pool cover these systems will generally double the amount of time the pool is usable in a year. If you need access to your pool year-round, however, you will probably still need a gas or electric heater as the lower temperatures couples with weaker sunlight means the solar system will have a hard time keeping up. These systems will even pay for themselves in as little as two years.

More and more small devices are becoming available that use solar energy to replace wall chargers. Pretty much anything that is rechargeable can be charged using solar energy. This is especially good as chargers have recently come under fire for leeching power even when a device is fully charged or not connected. By leaving one of these chargers in a sunny window for a few hours you can get a free charge for your phone or the device. There are also many solar powered battery chargers available as well.

As technology progresses renewable sources of energy such as solar will become increasingly important aspects of daily life. Taking steps now to reduce your reliance on the traditional power grid will help you save money in the future, as well as reducing your environmental impact.

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