What are the benefits of solar panels, and is it really an efficient way of heating a house?

Answer 1

heating, no. Providing renewable power in a very inexpensive way, definitely.

Answer 2

OK, I have solar panels on my roof for hot water heating. I live in N.W. London.

The good...

when the sun is shining they are great. They will heat my hot water up to 85°C - and since I have a double size hot water tank (210L) this water lasts ages.

At the beginning of the winter I got an estimated gas bill for about £100. I did a meter reading and sent it back and they, in fact, owed *me* £100!

The bad...

I've been told that the solar panels are only expected to last about 10 years, but they cost me around £3K, so it is very unlikely that I will save enough in gas bills to make that money back.

So, with the current costs of solar panel systems, you will *not* save any money by installing them. PV (electricity producing) panels cost even more (I was quoted £10K) and produce most of their power during the day when you are at work and, therefore, not using electricity. While you do "sell" this electricity back to your supplier, you're still never going to make enough to cover the cost of the installation if it's going to cost £10K and need replacing after only 10 years.

Hopefully, in the future, the costs will drop significantly, and/or the kit will last longer - then they will be cost effective. Until then, you only do it to do your "bit" for the environment.

Answer 3

Solar panels are good for the enviorment. They also offer more advantages then other alternative power sources because the Sun is out all day (solar panels are also used on outdoor malibu lights). Now if you heating a house, you would have to live in a very sunny location to provide that much power. This is why solar power stations are built mostly in deserts. Currently, solar power is more expensive, but as time passes it will probably catch on as the leadin alternative energy source.

Answer 4

There are obviously environmental benefits, in that there is no negative environmental effect. From there it gets a little complicated.

Costwise, solar energy is extremely cheap in terms of opeerating costs. Once installed, they don't need much maintainance--and there's no other costs to operation. They are still fairly expensive to install in the first place, though. but the cost has dropped about 50% in the last few years--andis going to continue falling as new technology is implemented (and there's a real revolution in this technology occuring, though it hasn't had a lot of publicity).

Solar power has one big limitation, of course--when the sun's not shining, there 's no power. For coling a house, htis isn't much of a problem--when it's hot enough to need the AC, the sun is usually shining. But solar power can be a big help in heating as well--even in winter, you can get power to heat a home in the daytime--and that still cuts down on power bills, even though the shorter days and the liklihood of more cloudy days limits this. Bear in mind that solaar power can also provide electricity for other things as well--which adds to its value.

Currently, solar energy is a cost-effective supplement to power a home--but you'll still need to draw on the power company to fill in the gaps. There are a couple of htins people can do to maximize the efficiency of solar power, though. One is to have good home insulation. For example, if you use solar energy to get your house nice and warm in January before the sun goes down, and you have good insulation, you won't need a lot of heat during the night.

In the long run, we MIGHT see some major expansion of the usefulness of solar energy, however. Thekey would be an affordable way of storing the power for later use--in other words, batteries or fuel cells. Batteries are becoming better and better--and more cost-effective for the amount of power they store. And if hydrogen fuel cells become commercially feasible in the future, that technology might be adapted for storing solar energy. Another possible application will stem from having electric cars--since they could be charged from a solar array as well as from the power grid. Again, though, this would be a valuable supplement, not a complete substitute.

Answer 5

Like many so called free energy systems the one thing that the green folk do not take into account is the amount of energy needed to build the system in the first place.

Solar panels being a good example for they use, apart from ordinary materials, things like exotic metals and the like. Do they ever produce as much energy as they use to build them in the first place? Your guess is a good as mine.

Answer 6

Solar panels capture the power of the sun - a free and environmental energy source. (The initial cost of the panels is erased within a three year time frame.) The only problem with panels is weather and clouds. That's why panels are a good augmental system along with something else.

Answer 7

they tend to work better in the Sahara than the Arctic