what are the advantages of a solar house?

Answer 1

You won't have a high electricity bill every month.

Answer 2

There are two forms of solar energy: solar electric (PV) and solar thermal.

Solar electric panels generate electricity. Typically, houses with solar electric panels are also connected into the power grid, so they can still use electricity when the sun isn't shining without needing to use batteries. With a bi-directional meter, the home owner gets credit for when they are generating more power than they are using, so they may have a surplus in the summer and a deficit in the winter, adding up to a minimal or zero energy bill.

The advantage is that you are protected against the price of electricity going up and that you are helping the environment. The disadvantages include the high costs of these systems and the fact that they take a significant amount of power to make, so it's about five years before they have generated more power than it took to make them. Given their long lifespan, this is still a net positive.

Solar thermal uses collectors to capture heat from the sun. This heat is transfered to an insulated tank, which can then be used for both water and radiant heating. It pays for itself much more rapidly than solar electric and has a smaller ecological footprint. The advantages are that it shelters the owner from rising heating costs and again helps protect the environment (as well as lessen dependency on fossil and foreign fuels).

Answer 3

I know a guy who did this as preparation for the Y2K fiasco. He bought a small farm on the Olympic Penninsula and went totally off the grid (except for water. He has a well, but it is metered.) and converted the house for complete solar power. So, there it is, you can get out of paying a monthly utility bill if you take it far enough. There is only one problem, the initial cost is huge. Solar electrical panels are expensive. Storage batteries are expensive (you are NOT going to be using car batteries). Appliances which work off the batteries are expensive. Inverters to convert the battery power to run regular appliances are expensive and also inefficient. Batteries do not last forever, and will fail eventually (according to my friend who did this, at 3 to 4 years, actually it is the number of charge/discharge cycles, which is around 800-1000 depending on the specific batteries), so be prepared for that cost every so often. So, what he did was this, made the huge investment up front and pays the periodic replacement costs (he just started on his 3rd set of batteries) and pays the utility companies nothing. At the current rate he is not paying for utilities, it will take about 60 years to recover the costs to date. Some utility companies will buy excess power from people who do this. The meter works both ways. If you use some of their power, they send you a bill. If they use some of yours, they send you a check.My friend's system isn't big enough to sell excess to the power company. It is questionable whether the solar system added enough value to his house to recover the installation cost if he sells. Is it worth it to convert over? Yes and no. Yes, it is better for the environment in that you are using the sun instead of coal or oil fired power plants to generate your electricity and heat your water, so that is a little less pollution in the air, but it is not exactly cost-effective. It will not save you much as it just redistributes the money you spend. from monthly to all at once..The clear advantage is that it all is self powered and runs in automatic. I would do it if I could figure out how I could afford it without taking out a loan... which would just change the distribution of money a little differently, to the loan sharks instead of the utilities. It's true, what they say, you truely can't win. The deck really is stacked against you. Maybe I'll get a winning lottery ticket...

Answer 4

No gas emissions, but the disadvantages are it can hold only so much power for such a length of time and it cost way too much to buy compare to buying natural gas or electrical power from other companies. However, it is suppose to save money compare to having a power company's power. They say it does not pollute the enviroment which is partly true.

Answer 5

Sounds good but the solar cells are very expensive.It will take several years to pay for them.

Answer 6

Saves money.

In the 1970s it was predicted that the investment to put solar panels on your house for heating your water would pay for itself in 5 years. Now days that figure will be less, depending on how much of the electricity that you use is generated by oil or natural gas fired power plants.

If you can afford the initial investment, if you can put them on your house, and if you have weather conditions that will make it worth while to use; then solar power is an excellent way to go and will save you a lot of money in the long run, more money than the original investment.

There are two types of solar power that you can use.
1. Solar panels run cold water through large, glass-covered panels on top of your roof. The heated water can then be put into your Hot Water Heater, saving you a lot of money on heating your water (this can also be called solar thermal power).

If your house is set up to use radiant heat generated by a fluid, then this will help to heat your house as well. To do this PVC piping is run under the floor with a subfloor or your standard flooring laid down on top of it. Then hot water is run through the pipes, since heat rises that makes it the most efficient way to heat your house.

This website: http://www.ecobusinesslinks.com/solar_energy_solar_power_panels.htm
Offers a list of solar cell and solar panel suppliers.

2. Actual solar cells, which are expensive, generate electric from sun light with about 40% efficiency. If you mount the solar cells on your roof then you can use the electrical power generated by them to light and heat your house. IF you buy a special power meter from the power company (about +$50) then it will record any SURPLUS power that you generate and the power company will owe YOU for that power. Otherwise the power produced by your solar cells will only count against the power that you need to light and heat the house up to the total cost for your power that month (this can be called solar electric).

This isn’t a do it yourself job, for most people, since an inverter circuit is needed to convert the DC power from the solar cells into the AC power that comes into your home. If you directly link a solar cell to the AC power grid you will only burn out the solar cells.

OKSolar.com: http://www.oksolar.com/roof/
Offers a solar cell that can be a shingle and it will be accepted by most homeowner associations.
PowerLight: http://www.powerlight.com/solutions/residential.php
Offers solar cells wholesale, available to home contractors. You can still price them here though.

Solar Panels are heavy, the average roof should be able to support them, but if you are in a region that gets a large snow load then you might need to reinforce the roof, the contractor that installs the solar panels will be able to tell you if the reinforcement is needed or not.

Solar Cells are very light, and can be mounted on almost any roof. If you live in a climate with a lot of dust storms that can cover or pit the solar cells then their efficiency will be decreased.

Solar Cells and Solar Panels will work in the winter, but they must be kept clear of snow. They are usually pitched at an angle to catch the sun properly so they could easily be visible from the streeet.

WARNING many home owner associations might have problems with you putting solar cells or solar panels on your roof. Also to be effective the solar panels and cells have to point toward the equator (south in the US) and you need a lot of sunny days. This system wouldn't work well in London England, but in most of the American Southwest or the Australian Outback (pointing north) it would work very well.

Solar Cells and Solar Panels themselves, and in operation are clean sources of energy form a 100% renewable resource. Of course the manufacturing process will create pollutants, but then that is true of most manufacturing.

You used to have to store the power generated, but now days you can feed it into the power grid and let the power company worry about it. They will simply increase or decrease the amount of power available to their customers. In the overall electrical grid your single house won’t be much of a factor, but it will save you money, and it will be a green source of energy.

In California there is a Rebate Program for Renewable Energy Electric-Generating Systems: http://www.consumerenergycenter.org/erprebate/index.html

For more information on how solar power works check out these sites: http://www.howstuffworks.com/solar-cell.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_panel