Affordable Solar For Home

Ultimately, all life on Earth comes from the Sun. It’s just filtered through various gasses, plants and animals before it gets to us as something useful. Why not harness that energy directly?

Affordable Solar For Lighting And Heating

This can be done with the solar panels that most people are familiar with, or it can be made from more ubiquitous materials like roof tiles or even solar collecting paint. Solar energy can also be used passively for heating, as in the case of hot water panels, large southerly windows and the thermal mass of very thick walls or a hillside.

People have always used solar energy without knowing it. Homes with a large earthen mass were used to survive hard continental winters during the American expansion. More recently, the energy crisis of the 1970s spawned a renewed interest in passively heated homes that collected solar energy during the day.

Early Home Solar

In the latter part of the century, strides were made in using the thermal holding capacity of water to act as a heated mass. This was also the advent of solar water heaters, though they have remained an oddity until the price of fuel increased in the 70’s again. Solar panels also appeared in the 1970s, thanks to research from NASA and public universities.

The rate of new solar panel installation has also gone up in the mid 80s due to the price coming down and several states offering tax rebates for installing home solar service.

Solar Advances And Affordable Solar

What has prevented solar from being widely adopted, so far, is the complexity of installation and the cost per watt. These issues are being addressed in several different ways.

There are new ways of manufacturing the solar collection devices that make the initial start up cost less than $1 per watt – long considered the threshold for mass market adoption. Advances in storage technology and easier installation are also making solar much more attractive. By the mid-90s, the demand has far outpaced supply. This is especially true in North America since so much of the worldwide solar panel supplies are being diverted to countries with high tax rebates, including Germany and Japan.