Solar power in homes

Solar power is described as being energy from the sun's radiation converted into heat or electricity. Amidst the current spate of fossil fuel issues, solar power has become an expensive but worthwhile choice for the home “of the future”. Solar cells or photovoltaic cells are used to convert the Sun’s rays into electricity.

Fig.1. The process of sun ray’s being turned into electricity

Figure 1 clearly shows; the Sun’s rays heating up the black pipes which heat up the water running through them. The pipes are painted black to attract the heat as much as possible; this will help out your central heating system and cut your fuel bills. In fact, a solar panel house pays for itself in less than 50 years.

At present less than 1% of our heating, transportation and power energy comes from direct sunlight. This is one of the greatest examples of sustainable technology that we have as the Sun will never run of energy. At the moment all the Earth’s reserves of coal, oil and natural gas can be matched by just 20 days of sunshine.

The main advantages of solar energy as a renewable fossil fuel are; it can be used where there is no national grid; they require very little maintenance; solar cells are totally silent; it is non-polluting. This is a great alternative as the burning of oil releases carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere causing further problems to the Ozone layer.

On the other side there are also a few disadvantages with using solar energy such as; the initial cost. This is largely because of the high cost of the semi-conducting materials used in building one; solar panels require quite a large area for installation to achieve a good level of efficiency; the production of solar energy is influenced by the presence of clouds or pollution in the air. Also, living in a colder country it would take longer for the house to pay for itself and this may put off many of the potential consumers.

At the moment solar energy is so expensive because there is no other company competing. Companies that setup solar panels in homes are so few and between that they can charge what they want. Also, the government do not allow house owners to install their own systems. The most evident reason is the fact that we have become addicted to fossil fuel energy concentrates.

The potential financial effects of setting up a solar powered home is monumental. Firstly, we have to realise that an average household consumes between 3300 to 4900 kWh per year. If the house above produces an average of at least 300 kWh per month for the two sunniest months, the yearly amount produced would be 3079kWh. This is enough for a family to survive on especially if they are energy savers. The family are looking to bring their energy consumption to between 2500 and 2900 in 2008; this will make them totally self- sufficient in electricity.

The potential political effects are very minimal as there are no negative consequences of using solar panels. The Government are actually trying to enlist more people to equip their homes with the latest solar power technology. Also, the Government are now instructing that all new homes must be zero-carbon from 2016 onwards

However, in more northerly locations, solar heating is less efficient. Useable amounts of domestic hot water are available in the summer months, on cloudless days, between April and October. During the winter and on cloudy days the output is poor. The installation costs in the UK are prohibitive, on average about £9,000. In view of this the pay back period can be up to 50 years.

The financial effects of this project on an individual can be great; the initial investment into solar panels for your home can cost £4000 to £16000 for an average size house. For most working or middle class people this is unaffordable as a one off payment or even when paying in instalments. Another financial effect is the payback period, if you where to pay £16000 for your system the payback period could be up to 14 years. Although this is a long period, once you reach that point you will be able to get free electricity, and sell the extra electricity back to your supplier.

Most suppliers will pay close to 5p per kWh produced and sent, if you were to sell them 3000kwh you would get close to £140 for a year. This is what happened in the house that I researched, all the energy they weren’t using they were sending to the suppliers and were getting paid for every kWh. The family started to use other renewable sources of energy to make more energy that they could sell. They installed wind turbines and reinsulated their house so that no energy was lost through heat.

In conclusion solar power in homes is not a viable option at the moment. This is due to the inefficiency of the panels in converting rays into electricity. The Government are accurate to campaign to get the general public into using renewable energy sources such as wind, Sun and water in order to cut carbon emission rates. This report outlines the potential behind solar panels, in that they are more effective in warmer countries but the cost of installation and the fact that colder countries do not benefit as much make this source of energy limited.