So you noticed your neighbor’s residential solar panels and heard enough of him bragging about how much he’s saving every month. And every time he does, you keep asking what’s so great about a few nonfunctional mirrors hanging off the side of the roof?
With the environment showing clear signs of negative impact, many Americans have stepped up to protect it. A study released by the Pew Research Center showed that many people have started to incorporate one daily action that positively affects the environment.
It includes walking to work, switching to an electric car or installing solar panels for an Eco-friendly way to provide electricity for their home.
If you’ve been considering installing solar panels, keep reading to learn more about how solar energy works on your home.
How Solar Panels Work
The large slabs of reflective material on your neighbor’s roof accomplish more than raising their home’s value. The solar panels gather unlimited energy from the sun and convert it into electricity, saving you money in the long run.
But how do those solar panels work?
In the majority of available solar panels, you’ll find silicon solar cells. When direct or indirect sunlight hits the cells, the silicon material separates the electrons with the metal grid to run through the inverter.
The separation generates DC currents when sunlight hits the panels. It then has to run through the inverter to convert to AC to convert to different voltages readily.
From the top-down, a solar panel functions in your home in the following steps:
Step 1
If the solar panels detect sunlight, it activates and separates the electrons from the photons to generate DC currents, whether direct or indirect.
Step 2
The DC currents then run through the inverter which converts it to AC currents. The energy must be AC, so appliances like washing machines and electric skylights have ready access.
Step 3
The AC currents flow to the breaker box which directs the electricity to where it’s needed.
Step 4
Two things can occur in the last step. The first situation involves sending any unused AC electricity back to the grid. While it seems like you’re giving away your hard-earned electricity, you’re not.
Whatever electricity you send to the grid reverses your meter. If net metering is allowed in your state as an incentive, you’re essentially turning the tables and selling power to the energy providers for the amount you pay for.
The second possibility is that the energy gets stored in a solar battery on your property that you can save to use later. If you received a solar kit, you could see how much energy you have available with a solar battery monitor.
Energy Levels and Solar Kits
When it’s nighttime or on a particularly cloudy day, your solar panels may not collect enough energy you can use. On the other hand, on days you’re stuck at work all day and no one’s at home, you may end up having excess energy you can use to your advantage.
Cloudy days still collect energy without direct sunlight, but when it’s snowing, and the snow covers the panels, they won’t capture any power at all. When the sun comes out the next day, because solar panels are installed at an angle, the snow should slide right off.
When you install solar panels, you’ll receive a simple-to-operate solar kit. It’s a plug-and-play package that connects the solar panels with a battery pack.
Solar kits are typically customizable to your preferences, so if you want a loose battery pack that has more capacity, that’s entirely up to you!
If your battery pack seems faulty or you want to have a couple extra as backup, you can find a solar battery bank for sale online or at a solar panel retailer in your area.
Technological Improvements
Solar panels have rapidly progressed during the past decade. Not only has the price dramatically fallen by almost a third of what it was, but it’s becoming more apparent that solar prices will continue on a downward trend.
Solar panels aren’t reserved for the ultra-wealthy and large corporations any longer. As the technology behind solar power continues to grow, consumers can expect prices to fall a significant amount.
It will be interesting to see how far solar panel technology will go in the coming years. Companies are already developing ways to incorporate solar tech into everyday building materials.
For example, solar panel windows like Tesla’s solar roof take away the bulkiness and hassle of individual panels. And that’s not all! There are also companies developing solar panel blinds that automatically rotate to follow the sun.
The applications of using renewable solar energy to power your home are truly limitless.
Solar Power Your Home
Solar panels are here to stay, and they’re a clear contender in the renewable energy sector. As the study mentioned earlier shows, the price of solar energy is on a downward trend which is very telling for consumers.
In 2017, the U.S. housed over 1.3 million solar installations. There’s no reason to miss out on the world’s continuous environmentally green trend!
Even though solar installation price has dramatically fallen by almost a third of what it was, many people still find it quite expensive. So, here’s the question that arises. How long will it take to pay off?