Solar panels: Using natural light to power your life

The sun is incredibly powerful. It generates so much power in the form of light waves and heat that there is no way it can all be used with our current technology and understanding. But that doesn’t mean we need to keep letting it go to waste!

You know that bill you get every month from the power company? Notice how it keeps increasing, even with energy efficient bulbs, windows, heater and a/c units, etc.? There are two ways to lower it; either get rid of everything electronic and use candles for light (not practical!), or invest in solar panels.

Solar panels are fairly easy to use. Simply have a certified technician install them on your roof and connect them to your main power line. After that, every once in a while, rinse them off with your hose, or better yet, some companies actually have a maintenance service that will come out and inspect them regularly and clean them as needed.

I’ve talked to people with solar panels, and heard stories about how after getting solar panels installed, they are receiving “bills” from the power company showing a credit to the account. In other words, the power company owes them money! Wouldn’t that be a welcome sight? One of my friends was telling me about their power usage. He lives on a large piece of land and own horses as well as rent out stabling space. There is the main house and the guest house, both occupied full time. He told me the power bill monthly was close to $1000, and rising. It was out of hand. He decided to get solar panels, which cost him about $100 per month is maintenance and finance fees, but now his power bill is below $200 per month, consistently! That’s about $700 in savings per month. I was shocked. And really, if he wanted even more savings, he could get panels installed on top of another one of the stables and start making money from the power company.

Incredible!

I’ve looked into solar panels for my house a bit and I’ve found that if I covered my roof with panels I could generate enough power to run my devices constantly during the day, and still have excess power trickling back into the power grid, that I would get paid for from the power company. The only thing holding me back at this point is lack of funds, and a desire to not go into debt getting them.

There is a cost to going solar, and in the long run it does get returned to me, but right now I sadly cannot justify the expense. Perhaps when I have finished my schooling and move into my career I will visit the subject again, but until then, I will continue to turn off my energy efficient lights, and open my windows at night for the cool air.


Until next time,
Tony