Solar Energy....why bother?

Why should any of us bother to use solar panels?

Solar Panels on a House

• Solar energy is just about as natural as it can get....besides the small cost to put the panels together and ship them around the world.
• The sun is the engine for the generation of energy. The very same engine that has fed the entire planted. The same source that had made that fossil fuel millions of years ago. 
• We must utilize the power of the sun for use now...not in millions of years.

Okay fine...so what can you do with solar panels?

• Yes you can charge just about anything given enough solar panels. It takes about 36 cells if you buy them in a 3X6 grid...each one of them will produce approximately 1/2 volts so if you can get 36 in series you will be able to produce 18volts. In our case 18 volts would be enough to charge some 12volt batteries. 

Great but that seems expensive....I mean brand new solar cells are quite costly...

• That is true however if you are willing to invest in some new panels you can also purchase some cheap damaged panels from ebay or even from the warehouse. All you would need to do is discard a few of the damaged cells and replace them with new cells you will be able to make more panels for a lower cost.

The investment is just too big for me right now...I won't be able to afford anything if I spend all my money in panels...

• We all know that feeling...however there is another perk to using a renewable energy source. Two terms are used to describe the fact that the city you live in will have to buy your excess energy produced by solar panels. 
• A Feed-In Tariff is a term used when a utility company sets a set rate for small energy producers. These prices are usually higher because the utility company can just as easily pass that price on to their consumers. This pricing practice generally removes the volatile nature of the wholesale market.
• Net Metering would be something quite different. This makes better sense for those small energy producers that will generally always use more energy then produced. The idea is when energy is generated using a green method the utility meter on the house will roll in the different direction. This means the consumer can ultimately get paid if the household produces more than it uses.

Hmm...well that sounds a little better.