Solar Power -The Future Energy For The Home

Solar energy for residential houses is nothing new. When man first started building homes, sunlight played an influence in the design. As a matter of fact, for the Ancient Chinese and Greeks, the orientation of the buildings is directed towards where it could capture the most sunlight.

The ancients might not be as intellectually sophisticated then to use catch phrases as passive solar and thermal mass but when they build, they were building in compact proportion, employing overhangs, and building in manners that direct the airflow within the structure and producing well lit, well ventilated spaces using the relative position of the sun to the orientation of their structures.

Nowadays, with the conventional sources of energy became more expensive, homeowners are once again turning to the sun for energy requirements.

Since the fifties, harnessing the sun’s rays has been evolving and today the solar cell technology has achieved very efficient levels that modern (so-called green house) designs implement the sun’s power to provide energy for the home.

Although solar energy is free, the device that will convert it to run our appliances is not. To provide solar energy for the home, solar cells called photovoltaic made from semi-conducting materials to produce electricity. To heat water, a systems generally composed of solar thermal collectors is use.

These solar panels are mounted on rooftops, yards or open spaces where it can capture the maximum amount of sunlight. Whenever possible, the panels were installed facing south to get the most out of the sunlight.

In spite of all the development in solar energy, the use of this technology is not enough to provide power to the whole house. The best method so far can only fulfill about 80% of a households power needs. The employment of solar energy for the home will still require the use of the conventional power distribution method.

Powering the homes by solar means will still, for a while be augmented by a local power distribution agency. To many, this is already a good starting point. Homeowners that feel that the high cost of powering their houses through solar power, is justified when compared to the price that is now being paid for conventional method where horrendous amounts of CO2 are being dumped into the atmosphere just to generate a pitiful amount of electricity.

However, due in part to the rising costs of energy, the technology for solar energy has been undergoing rapid phases of development. Experts are confident that powering the home through the solar method will be made widely available for those who prefer it as its sole energy source.