[TechGuy]

I'm interested in reading more about how to build a solar power system for my home or office (not sure which one I'll start with -- probably office). Any suggestions on where to start?

[Jason]

This was an interesting read: http://www.solar4power.com/solar-power-basics.html

I'll do some digging and see if I can find something more targeted to computers, but the above should help a lot in understanding solar power.

[TechGuy]

I've been doing a bit of investigating and it looks like it just isn't worthwhile yet. Kind of disappointing -- I was hoping efficiency and cost had improved more since last time I looked. I suspect it may be more cost effective in areas with more sun (I'm in PA) and in states that offer incentives to help cover some of the cost.

[Elvandil]

Definitely investigate grants, tax breaks, and subsidies. It's still something that takes maybe 10+ years to reach the break-even point, but with things going the way they are, it may be sooner and sooner.

I'm in Vermont, with even less sun than PA. But there are a couple guys here that have gone completely solar and heat their homes that way. But it has involved overlapping technologies, like a greenhouse on one side of the house that also serves as a collector for heating the home, heat-exchangers about 20-feet underground where the temperature stays 60-degrees year round, and solar panels. One guy has a small turbine in a nearby stream for backup during runs of sunlessness (new word?).

For some things, like heating water, the old "run-water-through-something-black" method is far more efficient than making electricity first.

[Knotbored]

About the cheapest small system I have found is a 45 watt for under $200 at Harborfreight.com but its useful only for experimenting.
By the time you get the battery storage and converters and such it would never pay itself off.
Solar for home use will probably just be for heating water or other uses for the next few years, and not for electrical production, except as an experiment.
Next year sometime I want to try making a parabolic reflector (using mylar mirrored film) onto a water filled tube tied to a small steam engine. If I get the steam part working I think I can borrow a steam engine from a local group of steam engine hobbiest that meet locally.

[Elvandil]

With the efficiency of solar cells being what it is (we're talking 12% for the very best), heating water is really the best way to go. Almost no energy is lost in the collection process, the concepts are simple and much of it can be made at home. But storage is again the complicating factor.

Due to the way my property is set up, I've been thinking about a method that is about as simple as it can get. Using the sun to pump water into a pond at a high level and letting it run through a turbine to make electricity. The pond is my "battery" and the water gets pumped back from a lower pond the next time the sun comes out.

[dr911]

Hi All,

I live in sunny Arizona, I have been looking into solar also. I have some buddies that run their A/C and stove off solar. They collect used (old, like 4 feet wide) satellite dishes and convert them some how. When I see them, I ask where they got the plans from !!

[Elvandil]

Originally Posted by dr911

Hi All,

I live in sunny Arizona, I have been looking into solar also. I have some buddies that run their A/C and stove off solar. They collect used (old, like 4 feet wide) satellite dishes and convert them some how. When I see them, I ask where they got the plans from !!

Amazing that I never thought of those dishes. I used to install them for a living.

But they are perfect for this kind of project. They are already parabolic and focus to where the tip of the LNB used to be. Making it shiny and routing water through it to a black collector should be easier once you have the stable parabola. Then, you need some sort of "steam engine".

Good idea.

[JStergis]

There's a few roads around here that are still "off the grid."

This guy happens to live on one and has had a solar power business for years. I know his son pretty well, and have met him several times.

http://www.fowlersolar.com/

Someone might find it interesting. He's written some books on it, I guess, and knowing him I bet they're very well worth reading. He's a solar guru if I ever met one.

[JohnWill]

I laugh when Gore says in 10 years we should be able to be totally independent of oil for energy. Not gonna' happen anytime soon.

[webaddict]

Originally Posted by JohnWill

I laugh when Gore says in 10 years we should be able to be totally independent of oil for energy. Not gonna' happen anytime soon.

I agree. I believe that politicians will never find a solution for War and Energy. For if people live happily, they can't function - they'll fade from the picture and nobody would notice them.