Get Green Product

There are many things that can be done to convert regular construction homes into eco homes. So don’t worry, no matter the age of your home, you can convert it into an eco-friendly home without having to tear it down and begin again from scratch.

One of the benefits of converting standard houses into eco homes is the improvement of air quality. In recent decades we have been building increasingly more energy efficient homes. While this is a good thing, the increased standards of insulation and the ability to have airtight homes has raised the levels of humidity pertaining to indoor air. Consequently, moist air draws in harmful chemical vapors from insulation, carpeting, furniture, paint, padding, solvents, and a range of construction materials.

To transform such afflicted homes into eco homes, you need to start by testing the indoor air quality of the home. This can be done quite inexpensively with a number of different testing kits. The air test will help you to pinpoint the containments in the home. Once identified, you can look for their source and start replacing them with healthier, greener, alternative building materials. You can find out about preferred green building materials at sites like BuildingGreen.com, where they offer specs on over 2,000 alternative building products for eco homes.

The conversion of common homes into green homes can also be achieved through modifications to the outside. For instance, it is a common practice to use pressure treated lumber when building exterior structures like fences and decks. Did you know that pressure treated lumber contains a form of cyanide introduced into the wood in order to keep away bugs and pests? This cyanide substance can cause severe skin irritation, rashes, and infection. A green alternative to pressure treated lumber is cedar, which is naturally bug and pest resistant.

There are lots of simple ways you can convert regular homes to eco friendly homes. You can start with something as simple as changing the light bulbs from incandescent to the compact fluorescents we have seen and heard so much about. You can also conserve water in eco homes by converting toilets and showerheads. By changing out your standard toilets and showerheads to water saving devices like pressurized low-flow units, you can conserve hundreds of gallons of water per year. Also, consider capturing rainwater to use for things like irrigating the garden and watering the lawn. Stop using chemical fertilizers and pesticides on your lawn and in your garden. There are plenty of green alternatives for gardening that perform just as well or better than commercial chemicals.

If you are handy around the home, there are plenty of projects you can undertake to convert standard construction homes to eco homes. This can range from building backyard compost heaps to using alternative materials for repairs. Consider installing solar panels for energy conversion or solar heaters for hot water. Converting standard construction homes to eco homes can be a challenging and extremely rewarding project for any handyperson.

For those less handy, look toward hiring contractors with a background in green construction, green repair, and green maintenance. More and more home improvement contractors and repairmen are becoming versed at working with eco homes, as we turn the tide to more earth-friendly construction and repair.

If you are interested in learning more about ways to go green, save money and help the planet, go here to receive a FREE green living tip delivered to your email inbox daily: FreeTipsForGoingGreen.com

Tags: eco home, eco homes, green, green home, Home Improvement, home insulation

Don’t be too quick to start to build a solar panel, because before you start; there are a few pitfalls that you need to be aware of. Once you know what you are doing it is a fairly straight forward process, building your own solar panel. What you need is the correct tools, the right products and a good training manual.

However, before all that it is important to understand what it is you want to end up with. Do you just want to build a solar panel – 100 watt to recharge your camera batteries or do you want to build a 1000 watt solar panel to power some of the appliances in your home or do want to build an 8000 watt array to power all your home electrical products and feed electricity back to the grid.

Obviously, the main difference between building a 100 watt panel and a 1000 watt panel is the number of solar cells you need and the time to build it. Most of us, who build our own solar panels to generate electricity for our homes, do it so that we can drastically reduce the expense of actually fitting solar panels as they can be prohibitively expensive.

Having decided the size of panel or panels you are going to produce, the next part of the process and the critical part is to establish where you can acquire low cost if not free solar cells. EBay is always a good place to start when wanting to buy anything on the cheap, the only downside is that you can’t always get the exact thing you are after. The only problem with this is that if you can’t find the specific size and quantity of solar cells, what do you do then?

A cheap or even a free source of solar cells is from local businesses who either manufacture products or utilize solar cells on a day to day basis. Contact these companies and make yourself known to them, tell them what you want to do so at a later date should they have any broken cells they want to dispose of, they will contact you. One of the major users of solar cells are the road and traffic signs, often you see them on the side of the road, and often they will have the company’s contact details on them. Repairs are frequently carried on damaged signs.

They don’t fix the solar panel if it is broken or chipped, they will fit a new one and chuck the old one in the skip. The good news is that it is normally very easy to repair a chipped or damaged solar cell, if you know how to build a solar panel, you can easily repair a solar cell.

This is the biggest pitfall you have to overcome, so go and find some local companies who are throwing away their solar cells and recycling them.

My passing shot is to remind you what I said a short while ago, know precisely what it is you want to end up with, how big and where you are going to put it. If you don’t have that clear picture, you will build an array which has no useful purpose. You just end up with disorganized chaos. Stick a picture on the wall and go and build it.

Different Types of Solar Panels

• Thin Film Solar Panels – cadmium telluride
• Thin Film Solar Panels – copper indium diselenide
• Polycrystalline Solar Panels – String Ribbon Silicon

Tags: DIY, Home, Home Improvement, solar power

There are many things that can be done to convert regular construction homes into eco homes. So don’t worry, no matter the age of your home, you can convert it into an eco-friendly home without having to tear it down and build again from scratch.

One of the advantages of converting standard housing into eco homes is the betterment of air quality. In recent decades we have been building more and more energy efficient homes. While this is a good thing, the increased standards of insulation and the ability to have airtight homes has raised the levels of humidity pertaining to indoor air. Consequently, moist air draws in harmful chemical vapors from insulation, carpeting, furniture, paint, padding, solvents, and a host of construction materials.

To transform these afflicted homes into eco homes, you need to start by testing the indoor air quality of the home. This can be done very inexpensively with a range of different testing kits. The air test will help you to identify the containments in the home. Once identified, you can seek out their source and start replacing them with healthier, greener, alternative building materials. You can find out about preferred green building materials at sites like BuildingGreen.com, where they offer specs on over 2,000 alternative building products for eco homes.

The conversion of common homes into eco homes can also be accomplished by making changes to the exterior. For instance, it is a very widespread practice to use pressure treated lumber when building exterior structures like fencing and decking. Did you know that pressure treated lumber contains a form of cyanide introduced into the wood in order to prevent attacks from bugs and pests? This cyanide substance can cause severe skin irritation, rashes, and infection. A green alternative to pressure treated lumber is cedar, which is naturally resistant to bugs and pests.

There are many simple ways to convert regular homes into green homes. You can begin with something as easy as changing the light bulbs from incandescent to the compact fluorescents we have seen and heard so much about. You can also conserve water in eco friendly homes by converting toilets and showerheads. By changing out your standard toilets and showerheads to water saving devices like pressurized low-flow units, you can conserve hundreds of gallons of water per year. Also, consider retaining rainwater to use for things like irrigating the garden and watering the lawn. Cease using chemical fertilizers and pesticides on the lawn and in the garden. There are a wide variety of organic alternatives for gardening that deliver results just as well or better than commercial chemicals.

If you are handy around the house, there are plenty of projects you can undertake to convert standard construction homes into eco homes. This can range from building backyard compost heaps to using alternative materials for repairs. Consider installing solar panels for energy conversion or solar heaters for hot water. Converting standard construction homes into eco homes can be a challenging and extremely rewarding project for any DIY enthusiast.

If you are less handy, look toward hiring contractors with a background in green construction, green repair, and green maintenance. More and more home improvement contractors and repairmen are becoming versed at working with eco homes, as we turn the tide to more earth-friendly construction and repair.

If you are interested in learning more about ways to go green, save money and help the planet, go here to receive a FREE green living tip delivered to your email inbox daily: www.FreeTipsForGoingGreen.com

Tags: eco home, eco homes, green, green home, Home Improvement, home insulation

Once you have built your solar panel array. The next step is to put them into a system which can use all the electricity which has been produced. So you either feed the electricity to the grid, store it in batteries or power your appliances. You probably have a rough idea of what you want your finished system to look like, but plan very carefully. Know exactly how many watts of energy you need and how many watts of energy your solar panels are capable of producing.

Transportable Solar Powered Generators

Smallest, cheapest and the most simple system. It only consists of four components – a battery or batteries, inverter, solar panel and the charge controller.

You don’t have to build all your solar panels before you install a system in your home. You can add more solar panels as and when they are available. The inverter will switch the current from DC to AC so you can power directly your household appliances.

If you find yourself in the enviable position of having excess electricity, instead of wasting it, you can feed it to a battery bank. Do not use standard auto battery, use a deep cycle battery.

Grid-Tied Solar Generator

If you currently have your electricity supplied by a utility company then give this type of setup very close consideration. In this system, you do not use batteries, you feed all unused electricity back to your utility supplier network. The benefit is you get paid by your supplier for producing the electricity, how cool is that.

Once you know how to do it, build a solar panel is very straight forward. It takes less than a day to manufacture a solar PV panel and in one year you can easily make 26 of them. If you built 26 panels, this would probably be more than enough to cover not only your electricity bills but many other monthly as well.

Grid Tied Generator + Battery bank

To cover all basis you may want a battery backup system integrated with you grid tied solar system. Should you have a cloudy day, or at night when you are generating no power, what do you do then? The battery system will store any previously unused electricity and so instead of tapping power from the grid you use your batteries.

Solar Power generation With Off Grid Houses

I would think that if you do not have electricity piped straight to your home then definitely look at having a battery bank integrated with your setup. And by having a battery back-up you will not have wasted any power you may have generated and not used.

Batteries perform better when they are warm so it is wise to invest in a battery box and keep them in your garage. A battery box also doubles up as offering a safety feature, so kids or animals don’t get to close. Just imagine if your dog peed up against a battery, or perhaps not!

You may already have a generator to power your home. If you do, I suggest you connect this to your system as well, it can charge your batteries should they start to go flat.

Different Types of Solar Powered Systems For the Home

• On Grid + battery bank + generator
• Off grid setup + generator + battery bank
• Grid tied system without a battery bank
• Solar panel with a battery backup
• Photovoltaic system without a battery backup

To find out more about how to build a solar panel along with discovering and to earn money from creating solar power for your residence visit build a solar panel.

Tags: DIY, Home, Home Improvement, solar energy, solar power

When you build a solar panel, there are a number of things that need to be taken into consideration before you actually start. Building a solar panel is a relatively easy process if you have good instructions to follow, know where to get the individual products from and have the right equipment.

However, before all that it is important to understand what it is you want to end up with. Do you just want to build a solar panel – 100 watt to recharge your camera batteries or do you want to build a 1000 watt solar panel to power some of the appliances in your home or do want to build an 8000 watt array to power all your home electrical products and feed electricity back to the grid.

The process is exactly the same when building a low wattage yield solar and a high wattage panel, besides time and space, the only other thing you need is more solar cells. The main reason for many people wanting to make their own solar electricity is that they can save on the cost of having to actually by them because they are very expensive.

Having decided the size of panel or panels you are going to produce, the next part of the process and the critical part is to establish where you can acquire low cost if not free solar cells. EBay is always a good place to start when wanting to buy anything on the cheap, the only downside is that you can’t always get the exact thing you are after. So what if you can’t find what you need on ebay and other auction sites, what do you do next?

A cheap or even a free source of solar cells is from local businesses who either manufacture products or utilize solar cells on a day to day basis. Find these organizations, contact them and start building rapport. Explain your project goals and the tight budget you are working to, so when they do get damaged solar cells, they will contact you to take them away. A big user of solar cells are the companies who repair roads or make street signs for roads. Repairs are frequently carried on damaged signs.

If the solar panel is damaged they will throw the old panel away replace it with a new one. If you have a good training manual which shows you how to build a solar panel, it won’t take much for you to repair a damaged one.

This is the biggest pitfall you have to overcome, so go and find some local companies who are throwing away their solar cells and recycling them.

Remeber what I said earlier, know what outcome you want to end up with, have a clear picture even sketch it out on a piece of paper. If you don’t have that clear picture, you will build an array which has no useful purpose. You will make life very hard for yourself and will probably be disappointed. Stick a picture on the wall and go and build it.

Different Types of Solar Panels

• Monocrystalline Solar Panels
• Thin Film Solar Panels – copper indium diselenide
• Satellite Grade Solar Cells

Tags: DIY, Home, Home Improvement, solar power

Both business and homeowners are turning to solar power in an effort to reduce their energy bills. One of the fastest ways to add this type of renewable energy to your system is by purchasing a DIY solar power kit. However, there are five important things with which you should be familiar before you make such a purchase.

Solar Power Dimensions

To determine whether or not you have sufficient roof space for the solar module, check the DIY solar power kit to see if it indicates the exact measurements of the solar panels. Additionally, the weight of the solar panels should be displayed on the kit, which you will need to know if you have roof tiles since they determine if the solar panels can be supported by your roof. The dimension and weight are needed to determine if your roof is structurally stable for the added load.

Total Power Generation

Before installing any DIY solar power kit, you must first calculate how much power is consumed in your home. Additionally, determine how many appliances you want to connect to the solar power system. Once you’ve come up with a figure, buy the appropriate DIY solar power kit. Kits of a variety of sizes are available; further, some kits can be interconnected if one alone is not sufficient.

Durability

Because they are outdoors, solar power panels are constantly exposed to harsh elements like hail, rain, snow and sun. As such, the frame should be constructed of a durable material like aluminum, and the solar cells need to be covered by tempered glass.

Long-Term Warranty

It can take years before you see a return on investment, or ROI, from the installation of a DIY solar power kit. It is important to consider the length of a product’s warranty before buying one. It is recommended to get one with a 20- to 25-year warranty period on solar panels.

Installation and Maintenance

Select a DIY solar power kit that has easy installation. You can purchase kits that come with all the components you’ll need to start your own solar power system. Additionally, you should also consider one that will require only minimal maintenance over the years in service. The best choice is solar panels that require, at minimum, scrubbing once a year to have the panels work at maximum efficiency.

Anna Vera Williams helps others understand how to utilize solar energy to live cleaner and more economical lives.

This article was originally published on Anna’s blog, at 5 Things to Consider When Buying a DIY Solar Power Kit.

Tags: alternative energy, DIY, DIY Solar Power, Do-it-Yourself, Eco-friendly, energy, Energy Efficiency, Gadgets, green, Home Improvement, Renewable Energy, Solar, solar power

Did you know that there are 10 various parts that are required to make a complete solar powered system for your home? Of course you don’t have to use all them. You can pick and choose depending on what type of system you want to end up with.

It doesn’t really matter where you start. For example, we talk about having a diesel generator as a back-up system, but you don’t to have to start off with one, and you can add it at a later date if you think it is necessary.

Solar Cells

These solar panels face the sun and convert the suns energy into power. They produce DC electric power in contrast to AC. Go crazy and build loads of solar panels because you can connect an unlimited amount together. Follow this link find out more about how to build a solar panel.

The panels are linked together inline. One follows the next one, a bit like a string of fairy lights in contrast to being connected together on an adhoc basis. With this design, it is very easy to add more panels as and when you build them.

DC Disconnect

As the electricity flows from your panels, the first component it hits is the DC disconnect. It is important if you want to do some maintenance on your system as it switches on and off the flow of electricity to your solar powered system.

Battery Charge Controller

A charge controller is very important to have if you are using batteries to store electricity. If you have a charge controller, this will protect your batteries from becoming over charged. Over charging will reduce the life of your batteries.

Batteries

Be careful about what type of batteries you use to store electricity. You want to use deep cycle batteries like the ones they use in forklift trucks. Do not use car batteries.

Keep the batteries warm, that way they work better. Do not expose them to the elements; keep them in a garage or some sheltered building. A battery box is also a good investment, they keep your batteries at a good temperature and also protect them from accidental damage.

System Metering

A system meter is very useful for telling you how much electricity you are using and how much power is left in your batteries. Without a system meter, you are working blind.

Main Supply Direct Current (DC) Disconnect

You only need this if you have a battery backup as it turns of the electricity from them. You design the system so that it sits between your batteries and the AC DC inverter. This turns off the power from your batteries, which then allows you to undertake any preventative maintenance.

Alternating Current (AC) Direct Current (DC) Inverter

Batteries and solar panels output a direct current. What we have to do is convert this DC current into an AC current. This is the job of the inverter to convert direct current to an alternating current.

Petrol Generator

You can get petrol and diesel powered generators. If you live in a house that does not have an electric utility supplier then this is a good option to add to your system. The generator can produce electricity when there is no sun or when the batteries are run down.

AC Breaker Panel

The AC breaker panel is where you feed the electricity you produced back to the national grid. Although all houses have them, only the electric company is allowed to wire them up. So you need to book an appointment for your utility supplier to wire it up to your solar panels.

Don’t be tempted to do it yourself, it is a criminal offence for unqualified people to touch these panels, and you want it to be done correctly..

Home Kilowatt per Hour Meter

As with the breaker panel, you will also have a KWH meter. The meter measures your electric usage and your bill is calculated based on the figures from this meter. So if you send power back to the grid, this will go in reverse.

Video on Different Aspects Of Building Your Own Solar Panel

Once you know how to build a solar panel you now need to source all the other components to build a complete system to power your home. Go to build a solar panel and discover how to build a complete system to power your home.

Tags: DIY, Home, Home Improvement, solar energy, solar power

As soon as you have produced your monocrystalline solar panels. The next step is to put them into a system which can use all the electricity which has been produced. So you either feed the electricity to the grid, store it in batteries or power your appliances. Remember that to ensure you get a fully working system that is capable of producing enough power to provide for all you home electricity needs, plan what you are going to do and always plan with the end goal in mind.

Mobile Solar Powered Systems

This is the quickest one to build. It only consists of four components – a battery or batteries, inverter, solar panel and the charge controller.

The important thing here is that you can increase the capacity of the system very easily just by adding more solar panels. The inverter will switch the current from DC to AC so you can power directly your household appliances.

If you find yourself in the enviable position of having excess electricity, instead of wasting it, you can feed it to a battery bank. Do not use standard auto battery, use a deep cycle battery.

On-Grid Solar Power Generator

If you currently have your electricity supplied by a utility company then give this type of setup very close consideration. What you do is not waste time with batteries, you can send the extra power straight back to the grid. This has the effect of reversing your meter and so your electric utility supplier will credit you on your bill.

Once you know how to do it, build a solar panel is very straight forward. You can easily build one panel in 7 days and let’s say over a year you build 35 of them. This could turn it a very profitable income stream which will not only pay for all your power bills but may also pay for all your household bills!

Grid Tied Generator + Battery bank

To cover all basis you may want a battery backup system integrated with you grid tied solar system. Should you have a cloudy day, or at night when you are generating no power, what do you do then? The battery bank is a passive supply of electricity, which has been previously charged up with any unused electricity generated over the past couple of days.

Solar Power generation With Off Grid Houses

I would think that if you do not have electricity piped straight to your home then definitely look at having a battery bank integrated with your setup. By doing so you will not waste any of the electricity you have generated.

Batteries perform better when they are warm so it is wise to invest in a battery box and keep them in your garage. A battery box is also a good health and safety feature, especially if you have children or animals running around. Just imagine if your dog peed up against a battery, or perhaps not!

You may already have a generator to power your home. If you do, I suggest you connect this to your system as well, it can charge your batteries should they start to go flat.

Different Types of Solar Powered Systems For the Home

• Photovoltaic system without a battery backup
• Portable solar power pack
• Grid tied system without a battery bank
• Off grid setup + generator + battery bank
• Grid tied systems

To find out more about how to build a solar panel along with discovering and to earn money from powering your home visit build a solar panel.

Tags: DIY, Home, Home Improvement, solar energy, solar power

Don’t be too quick to start to build a solar panel, because before you start; there are a few pitfalls that you need to be aware of. Building a solar panel is a relatively easy process if you have good instructions to follow, know where to get the individual products from and have the right equipment.

However, before all that it is important to understand what it is you want to end up with. There are many things you can do when you build a solar panel, you can build a small one for charging up re-chargeable batteries, or you can build larger 200, 300 or 400 watt panels to run home appliances and store excess electricity in a battery bank, or you can build 1000 watt panels and start a little business feeding electricity back to the grid.

The process is exactly the same when building a low wattage yield solar and a high wattage panel, besides time and space, the only other thing you need is more solar cells. People want to build their own solar panels to reduce the cost of purchasing solar a panel because they can be very expensive.

Having decided the size of panel or panels you are going to produce, the next part of the process and the critical part is to establish where you can acquire low cost if not free solar cells. EBay is always a good place to start when wanting to buy anything on the cheap, the only downside is that you can’t always get the exact thing you are after. The only problem with this is that if you can’t find the specific size and quantity of solar cells, what do you do then?

One very good option for you is to research businesses near to where you live and find the ones which use solar cells in the electrical products they use on a day to day basis. You want to develop a relationship with these companies so that they call you when they have any damaged cells they want to get rid of. A big user of solar cells are the companies who repair roads or make street signs for roads. Repairs are frequently carried on damaged signs.

If the solar panel is damaged they will throw the old panel away replace it with a new one. If you have a good training manual which shows you how to build a solar panel, it won’t take much for you to repair a damaged one.

The biggest challenge for most “solar panel builders” is finding a reliable, low cost source of solar cells so pick your telephone directory and start looking for those companies now.

A final word, if there is one thing I want to drive home to you, is the fact you need to have a very good picture in your mind’s eye of what it is you want to achieve. From my experience, if you don’t have this, you build an odd panel for this and an odd panel for that. You will make life very hard for yourself and will probably be disappointed. Stick a picture on the wall and go and build it.

Different Types of Solar Panels

• Monocrystalline Solar Panels
• Thin Film Solar Panels – copper indium diselenide
• Satellite Grade Solar Cells

Tags: DIY, Home, Home Improvement, solar power

Homeowners and businesses are turning to solar power to reduce their energy bills. Purchasing a DIY solar power kit is perhaps the fastest way to implement this kind of renewable energy to your system. However, there are five important things with which you should be familiar before you make such a purchase.

Dimension of the Solar Panels

The DIY solar power kit should list the panels’ precise measurements, which will help you determine if you have the proper roof space for the solar module. Further, ensure that you know the solar panels’ weight, which is necessary information if you have roof tiles as they will factor in determining if your roof can support the solar panels. You will be able to more easily determine if your roof is stable enough structurally to handle the added load if you know the weight and dimension of the panels.

Total Power Generation

You should calculate the amount of power you use in your home before you install any DIY solar power kit. Then decide on the number of appliances you’ll be connecting to your solar power system. Choose an appropriate DIY solar power kit once you’ve come up with this figure. Kits of a variety of sizes are available; further, some kits can be interconnected if one alone is not sufficient.

Durability

Solar power panels are constantly exposed to harsh outdoor elements like rain, hail, sun and snow. Due to this exposure, the frame should be constructed of aluminum or another durable material, while the solar cells should be covered with tempered glass.

Long-Term Warranty

It can take years before you see a return on investment, or ROI, from the installation of a DIY solar power kit. It is important to consider the length of a product’s warranty before buying one. Most experts recommend getting a 20- to 25-year warranty on new solar panels.

Installation and Maintenance

Select a DIY solar power kit that has easy installation. Kits that contain all the necessary components to start your own solar power system are on the market. Additionally, you should also consider one that will require only minimal maintenance over the years in service. Solar panels that require an annual scrubbing to keep them working at their maximum potential are your best bet.

Anna Vera Williams helps others understand how to utilize solar power to live cleaner and more eco-friendly lives.

This article was originally published on Anna’s blog, at Five Things to Consider When Purchasing a DIY Solar Power Kit.

Tags: alternative energy, DIY, DIY Solar Power, Do-it-Yourself, Eco-friendly, energy, Energy Efficiency, Gadgets, green, Home Improvement, Renewable Energy, Solar, solar power