Grid Free Power

photo by Edmont

You may have heard about the 350.org stunt to bring a part of a solar panel that was on the White House during the Carter administration back to Washington to get President Obama to put it back on the roof of the White House.  Today the administration rejected the panel, but did meet with Bill McKibben.

This was mostly a stunt to get publicity for 350.org’s climate change agenda, which is fine.  But it wasn’t very good for solar power.  First of all the solar panels were hot water panels, not photovoltaic panels.  So they weren’t going to be generating any electricity with them, which (if you’re reading this blog) is something you know that’s the best thing to do with solar panels.

But the worst part about the failure of the stunt for solar power is that many critics are saying that Obama didn’t put them on the white house because of the prohibitive cost of solar power and that the administration didn’t want to look out of touch with the average american who, “can’t afford to put up a solar panel.”  Of course you and I know differently.  We know that you can put up a solar panel for less than $200.  Don’t let the pundits or the bureaucrats dupe you.  Solar power is not as expensive as they think.

Sign up for my newsletter and check out the most important tip you need to know before buying solar power

I found this great place to get lessons and kits to teach my kids about science.

I just found out about free access to this excellent series of science videos just  for homeschoolers.  It includes a guidebook too.  Not sure how long it will be for free, but at least for now you can get it at:

www.sciencelearningspace.com/members/go.php?r=3585&i=l27

Enjoy!

Joe

P.S. Definitely don’t miss this one. Here’s the link:

www.sciencelearningspace.com/members/go.php?r=3585&i=l27

Hi everyone,  Thanks for all the great comments on my blog and newsletter.  Your encouragement makes me want to research and write even more.

I’m into DIY solar for several reasons, obviously to save money, but also for the environment.  Several people have written to me about their environmental interests too, especially about global warming and greenhouse gasses.  I thought I’d do some research and write about how installing solar panels help these.

Using solar energy produces environmental benefits right away, since you are reducing or eliminating your draw on the electrical grid (grid free power!). Electricity is most often produced by burning fossil fuels such as oil, coal, and natural gas. When these fuels are burned, many pollutants are put into the atmosphere, such as carbon dioxide (CO2), sulfur dioxide (SO2), and nitrogen oxide (NOx) these create acid rain, smog and because of our use of them are increasing these all the time. The carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels is what makes up the bulk of greenhouse gasses. These gasses contribute to global warming, climate change and the science community agrees that we must lower the amount of these gasses in the atmosphere to 350 parts per million. (see 350.org)

Our burning of fossil fuels puts more than 6 billion tons of carbon into the air each year! Solar energy, provides electricity while also eliminating the pollution that would have been created to generate that power.   This prevents damage to the environment and public health, while also saving you money.  It’s a win-win-win situation!

Solar power is clean energy. When you generate electricity from the sun, you are putting no (none!) pollutants into the atmosphere.  Even when you figure in what pollution is created when the cells are manufactured, generating power using photovoltaic cells produces less than 15 percent of the carbon dioxide from a coal-fired power plant. Making them yourself from recovered parts (as I give instructions for in my newsletter)

If only 1 million homes converted to solar energy, that would reduce CO2 emissions by 4.3 million tons per year.  That’s like taking 850,000 cars of the road.

As you know I’m really interested in making my own solar panels and have had great success with the DIY Solar Power Instructions that I recommended in an earlier blog.  I was amazed, and maybe you will be too, how cheap and easy they are to make.  And fun!

Check out this Life magazine photo retrospective of designer Charles Eames playing with solar energy.  This is way back in 1958!

A commenter on the images was saying how if we’ve had solar energy experiments going on this long, he wonders why the government continues to subsidize the fossil fuel industry. Instead the installation of solar panels should be required on homes, especially in the southwest of the US, where there is so much plentiful sunshine.  Imagine what that would do to the energy outlook in the country!

Meanwhile let’s keep making our own solar panels and do our part.

I was just doing some research into the electronics end of solar cells and solar panels.  Did you know that if you have a panel in the sun and a cell gets shaded that it can cause trouble for panel, and even burn out the shaded cell?  And no matter what it reduces your efficiency for the cells that are in the sun by a lot.

Sign up at gridfreepower.info/diy and you’ll get the details on this tip (including instructions) and others that will save you money on DIY solar panels.

I have found out a way that you can build your own solar energy panels.  Generate your own electricity with something that you build yourself, saving thousands of dollars off of buying new.

Amazingly almost anyone can build their own solar panels, without any solar energy experience with the guide we have found.

This guide I’ve found to build your own solar panel system provides step by step instructions and is easy to follow. You don’t have to be a do-it-yourselfer, or even be especially handy. Almost anyone can build their own solar panel with the plans, and step-by-step instructions.

The average solar panel array costs $27,000.  You can build your own for a small fraction of that.  Build one, or build a whole array.

The cool thing about this guide is that it has detailed videos showing you every thing that you need to do.
Check out this video

Have fun, save money and save the environment. What a great project!

President Barack Obama toured solar manufacturer Solyndra on Wednesday. The President is a big supporter of Solar Power.  Solyndra manufactures solar panels.  The administration also has supported Solyndra and other solar manufacturers with loan guarantees to jump start the solar industry in the US. This is great news for solar fans as prices will drop, technology will get better, and solar panel parts will become easier to obtain.

I know with my projects, I’m looking forward to increased production.  And I saw that Solyndra makes thin film solar cells.  I haven’t done any projects with those, have you?

I’m getting more and more excited about saving money on solar panels. I’ve put together some money-saving tips on getting solar power for your home. Don’t get ripped off by solar panel retailers, check out the video on how to save money on solar panels by doing it yourself (DIY!).

An exciting day! We’re on the Top 50 Solar sites! It’s a list that of the most popular internet websites about renewable energies.

On the Top50-Solar Toplist you will find all the most popular internet sites concerned with solar energy and renewable energies.

I have two kids and while I’ve learned to make my own solar panels using the DIY solar panel instructions, and my kids have watched end even helped, I wanted to get them something that they could do by themselves. I found these great alternative energy science kits from superchargedscience.com that my kids love. Check them out.