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Solar Power Concepts
When we bought our first solar-powered calculator we've surely been enamoured by the notion that we would never need to buy batteries for it! Use it endlessly and it works for us for "free."
This same principle as well as concepts of "free energy" is resurfaced when people say solar-panels. Free energy equals no utility bills! It's a powerful motivator but it's simple and complicated at the same time. Let's talk about the simple stuff first:
Getting power from the sun is one thing, what to do with the power once you have it is another. Depending in which state you live in, something called "net metering" allows you to generate electricity and then feed it back to the utility company on the electricity lines you already have - and they pay you! The other way is to purchase batteries and be "off-the-grid" entirely.
The generation of power from solar-cells (Photovoltaics) also comes in two flavors: Crystaline and Anamorphous. Although they both cost about the same ($8 - $12 per watt installed), they look and operate differently.
Crystaline - Silicone (sand) based system and also comes in two types: Monocrystaline and Polycrystalline. The only thing you need to worry about for now is that they look different - that's all. One you can see the circles and the other is more flat in appearance. They are both covered with glass and are framed in aluminum.
Anamorphous - Also called "thin-film" uses far less silica and is "unstructured" so it doesn't carry many of the constraints the crystaline ones do. What constraints? Well, not to get into too much detail but if you shade just a fraction of the crystaline panel, it will shut off most of the series (like a broken light on a Christmas-tree light string). The unstructured version is like a web so a small shadow doesn't affect the rest of the panel. Problem with anamorphous is that it's not as efficient.
To make matters more difficult (but keeping you up to date), there is a new one in development which uses very tiny silica and is ink-based. A sort of ink-jet sprays nanocrystals on a sheet of metal and it makes electricity! It uses far less material and makes it tremendously fast, afterall, it's an inkjet printer!
For a detailed Return on Investment on solar and other energy generating solutions, refer to our ROI-section.
As an update - with the wide array of applications available to see if solar power is right for you in your area, there are a handful of free online utilities to determine the very thing. Similar to Google Maps in that it's interractive, it will give you a rough idea of how feasible it is uniquely for you. We'll list a few at the bottom of our ROI-section.
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