Posts Tagged ‘power’

« Older Entries

Wind Power – How to do it.

Friday, May 7th, 2010

If you’re interested in home wind power, there are a few basics you will need before you get started. Using a small wind turbine is an inexpensive way for people in rural, suburban, and even urban areas to slash their electricity bills and reduce their carbon footprints. Possibilities range from using a very small wind turbine to power small appliances and equipment, to generating amounts of power large enough to eliminate your consumption of grid electricity.

Home wind power is not only good for your bills, but also good for the environment. It is simple to implement and can be installed by non-professionals using minimal tools. Many people around the world supplement the energy they get off the grid with home wind power. Some people are even able to eliminate their monthly energy bills completely! Whether you produce a little bit of energy or a lot, you can be assured of reducing your “carbon footprint” and helping to improve the environment.

Some studies estimate that about .5 percent of a country’s energy expenditure could be slashed if ten percent of homes had small, inexpensive wind turbines. If you’re interested in using home wind power, you first need to know the basics of how it works. You can purchase a small off-the shelf wind turbine for a low price. Or, you can elect to purchase a turbine kit that you put together yourself.

Either way, if balanced against the electricity savings, the initial expenditure is quite modest. Many people should be able to install their home wind turbines themselves, but you will need to have a basic toolkit and have a little bit of experience assembling machines or doing home electrical work. You can also pay a professional home wind power installer to set up your system in a few hours at a modest price. Home wind power works best for people in rural or low-density suburban areas.

Of course, you will need to be in a location that gets a lot of wind predictably during most of the year. People in urban areas can still cash in on the home wind power movement, but because air flow may be partially or wholly blocked by other buildings, they can expect to net a smaller amount of power.

However, the important thing to remember that when it comes to reducing your carbon footprint, any amount of energy savings is worth it. A growing idea that can be implemented in urban, rural, and suburban areas is to use a very small, inexpensive wind turbine to create a battery charge that is used to run low power appliances. Although these small turbines don’t produce a large amount of electricityFree Articles, they still diminish the carbon footprint.

Tags: , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

All You Ever Need To Install Solar Power for Homes

Friday, April 30th, 2010

Considering installing solar power for homes? Here’s everything you’ll need so as you can get a sense of cost and scale of the job.

Begin by establishing exactly how much of your home’s total energy usage you want to be run on solar power. Do you want solar power merely to heat the water and the water-heating system? Do you want to go completely off-grid and power the whole house by solar power? Either way, you’ll need to know how much energy your home is consuming per month on average.

Using your monthly utility bills, calculate your home’s average energy usage. Note any peak times when you use radically more energy. The Christmas period can cause surprisingly heavy energy demands. In essence, you need to design your solar power system to cope with your home’s maximum energy demand.

Once you have these figures, I recommend multiplying the amount by at least 1.5. This will give you a working leeway for any extra appliances you might add to your home over time. Now you know how much solar energy you need to pull in from the sun, you also have an idea of the amount of solar panels you will need to buy.

I would advise you to buy solar panels online. Go to Ebay and input the words “solar panel pallet”. You’ll probably get an amazing bargain there. Prices have dropped dramatically recently. For an average family house, you can probably buy enough panels to power your home for less than $15,000.

Get good quality skilled and experienced tradesmen to do the job. Again, look online or check your local phone book. Always get at least three quotations. Cost is central, but it is very important that they have previous experience in installing solar power for homes.

Once you have someone you can trust at a good price, discuss with them which inverter to get and how much that will cost. Solar panels harness the power from the sun and turn it into direct current (aka DC power). The inverter converts this DC current into alternating current, (aka AC power). Everyone who installs solar power for homes needs to buy an inverter. Almost all the equipment in your home generally runs off AC so the inverter is essential.

A good inverter will cost about $2,000. Add another $500 or thereabouts for installation. Inverters have a lifespan of about 10 years, while solar panels, if looked after, will last 25-30 years. So you’ll probably need to replace your inverter over time.

If you want to go completely off-grid, you’ll need to store your excess energy in good quality batteries to store excess solar power harnessed on sunny days. That way, you’ll have a reserve of power to run your household appliances on darker days and at night-time. They cost about $50 – $100 each for the deep-cycle types. You’ll need about 10 of them. New batteries generally need replacing every 3-5 years.

Typically, your installation costs shouldn’t be much more than $10,000. However, installation costs depend on a variety of factors. How is your roof constructed? Steep roofs or Spanish tiles cost more to install as the panels need to be properly secured. Yet further cost goes into ensuring leak-proof seals in these roofing systems.

Installing solar power normally doesn’t need much electrical work to set up. Older houses may require additional rewiring, though this is rarely extensive. Nevertheless, have a qualified, experienced electrician check all the wiring.

Don’t forget to look for government support. Most local governments around the world are offering major tax credits. Your utility company might also have incentives to offer. These can all add up to as much as 50% of the total cost.

Final point – if you are investing in solar power for homes, it makes sense to protect your new asset. Ask your insurance advisor to add this to your homes and contents policy. Adding your new solar power system to your homeowner insurance policy won’t cost you more than $100 per annum. This will protect the investment you’ve made on your house. An additional $100 per year to cover your $40,000 solar system against any disaster really is an absolute bargain!

Look on your solar power system as a long-term investment. Each step of the installation process should be taken carefully. To remind yourself of the value of your investment, ask yourself, “What is the payback time?” Of course, after it’s all paid off, you have free electricity for years to come.

Consider if you were to take a loan to finance your solar power for homes system. Although it may seem like a hefty initial outlay, the monthly payments will probably be less than your current utility bill. So you will saving money all down the line.

Of course saving money is not the only reason it makes good sense to install solar power for homes. It’s good to know that you are reducing your carbon footprint. Thereby your children and their children can inherit a planet worth living in. That’s the very least you can do for themFeature Articles, don’t you agree?

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Power of Sale

Saturday, April 10th, 2010

Tags: , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

The advantages of wind power

Saturday, December 19th, 2009

With the increased interest in the last few years in renewable forms of energy, wind powered generators are gaining popularity. They offer a lot of advantages over solar alternatives and are very attractive economically as well. If you are considering adding a solution to your home to replace or augment your power, wind powered generators are a great place to start. There are several options available to the homeowner these days to help out with the rising cost of electricity.

Solar panels seem the most obvious, but compared to wind generated power, they may fall short. One of the main problems with solar panels is that even under the best conditions they only generate power for a fairly small portion of a 24 hour daily cycle. This means that during the evening, and on cloudy days you are relying completely on your local power company to supply your electricity.

On the other hand a wind powered generator will operate continuously as long as the wind is blowing. And if you mount the unit on a high enough tower, it is likely to catch a minimum of wind most of the time. Also, the cost of solar panels can be very expensive compared to the cost of a wind powered generator. Solar panels are usually bought pre-made and have to be installed by a professional in groups to generate a decent amount of power. Wind generators can be installed as a single unit, and even a small one can generate between 1000 and 2000 watts of power. This is equivalent to an average output of 10 to 20 solar panels on a sunny day.

Also, there are a lot of plans available on the web to help you actually build your own wind generator from readily available parts, further lowering the cost. Another advantage that wind powered generators have over solar panels is that they can be used by any homeowner in any location. For solar panels to be effective, you need to have a large flat area that faces true south. If the back roof of your house (the most cosmetically appealing place to install solar panels) faces north, you’re out of luck.

The Wind turbine is installed on a pivot and will catch the wind no matter which direction it is blowing. Lastly, a wind powered generator is mounted away from the house on a free-standing tower. This is nice because it doesn’t require you to modify the house in any way to use it. Solar panels are mounted on the rood and in some cases require bracing in the attic for the added weight and always present the hazard of your roof leaking from the installation. All things considered, if you’re looking for an attractive alternative energy generation schemeFeature Articles, wind powered generators might be perfect for you.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Getting Your Child to Sleep: The Power of the Sleep Fairy

Sunday, November 22nd, 2009

Do your children awaken you multiple times in the night? Do you lie with your children in bed until they finally fall asleep? Does your child slip into your bed in the middle of the night? Have your children’s sleeping habits driven you to the point of madness? Have no fear! The Sleep Fairy is here!

One night after struggling to put my two and four-year-old to bed, I dragged myself sleepily down the hallway for a moment to be with my husband who was watching the History Channel. I fell to the couch exhausted but waiting for my children to call me from their bedrooms anticipating the up and down of our nightly routine.

As I waited, I focused on the war story in front of me. It was about the prisoners- of-war in Hanoi during the Vietnam War. Some of the pilots who were shot down over North Vietnam were imprisoned for up to seven years. As they spoke of sleep deprivation, I found myself relating to their symptoms. They felt detached and confused, forgetful and out-of-touch much like I did after four years of sleepless nights. I felt breathless as I realized the prisoner-like state I was in as a parent.

One day, as I made my children??s beds, I came up with a magical idea that blended good psychology (reward systems) and parenting (loving encouragement). That night I sat my children down on the couch in the living room and said, “I’ve just received notice that the Sleep Fairy is coming our way.” My 4-year-old daughter said, “Sleep Fairy? Who’s that mommy?” I said, “The Sleep Fairy helps little kids sleep all through the night. And when the little kids sleep through the night, they receive a little treat under their pillows.”

Both of my children beamed at the idea that they might wake up to a surprise! I tucked them into bed, read a story, and kissed them goodnight and then said, “Now, you cannot call for me after I say goodnight.” That’s when my son understood he couldn’t play the up and down game anymore. “But mommy,” he said. “What if I need you?” To that I replied, “Unless you have hurt yourself, you don’t need me. It’s time for sleep. But,?? I added to be fair “you can tell me you love me anytime.”

My children slept through that night. They woke up to a toy car, colored pencils or a small candy and were excited for another opportunity for the Sleep Fairy to visit. Some mornings they didn’t make it through the night and the Sleep Fairy did not come. They were disappointed but knew that they had another chance the following night to have a good night??s sleep.

You can employ the Sleep Fairy in your home by following these steps:

  1. Introduce the Sleep Fairy by saying something like, ??Did you know??????????????? that there is a fairy who helps little children get to sleep and stay??????????????? asleep. All we need to do is say out loud at bedtime, ??Sleep Fairy we need??????????????? help sleeping!?? Then you explain that the fairy will bring a gift or treat??????????????? and hide it under their pillow when they??ve accomplished their goal.
  2. Be reasonable by requesting specific, reachable goals that your??????????????? children can achieve. If your child wakes up 10 times a night, then the??????????????? Sleep Fairy should come is he only wakes 3 times. This goal would change??????????????? over time.
  3. Give clear instruction. Tell your child exactly what she has to do??????????????? to earn her prize. “When I say goodnight, you must remain??????????????? quiet.” Or, ??You can only wake me up two times during the night.??
  4. Reward every night. For the first 30 days, reward nightly to change??????????????? your child??s pattern.
  5. Change to an intermittent or random pattern after 30 days. Once you??????????????? see consistent sleep patterns, tell your children the Sleep Fairy must??????????????? help other children who have sleep problems. The Sleep Fairy will still??????????????? visit once in awhile (randomly). Or if your child is more into a schedule??????????????? then tell him the Sleep Fairy will visit every Wednesday (intermittently).
  6. Have your child write a thank you note to the Sleep Fairy.
  7. Invite the Sleep Fairy back when needed. Children go through stages.??????????????? Some stages bring back old sleep habits and before you know it you’re??????????????? sleepless again. Take this opportunity to call the Sleep Fairy back.??????????????? Follow the same pattern for saying goodbye.

My children call the Sleep Fairy back ever so often now that they are 6 and 9. My son Dylan usually says, “Mommy, I miss the Sleep Fairy. Can she come to visit?” AndFree Articles, guess what? She always does!

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Home Solar Power

Sunday, November 15th, 2009

Basic facts about home solar power systems

A home solar power system has several standard components they are as follows:

* PV Modules or solar panels (to turn solar energy into electricity)

* A charge controller (this is an electrical device that prevents batteries from overcharging and from power running from the batteries into the solar panels).

* Batteries, to store the electricity for night time usage.

* An inverter (an electrical device that changes the electricity created through the solar panels into electricity ready for use in your regular household wall plugs). Solar panels create Direct Current DC and a household runs on A/C Alternating Current.

* In the case of a hybrid home solar system, an automatic switch to get current from the electrical grid, or some other power source such as a generator would be included as well. The advantage of using a hybrid system is that you will not be dependent upon solar energy alone.

* A 1-kilowatt home solar system is sufficient for most households.

* A 1-kilowatt home solar system will provide roughly 1,600 kilowatts per year in a sunny climate (receiving 5.5 hrs of sunlight each day) and about 750 kilowatt hours per year in cloudy climates (receiving 2.5 hours of sunlight each day).

* A 1-kilowatt home solar system is uses about 10-12 solar panels and requires about 100 square feet of installation area such as the roof of your house or a section of land on your property.

* A 1-kilowatt home solar system reduces waste and pollution by about 170 lbs. of coal from being burned, 300 lbs of CO2 from being released into the atmosphere and 105 gallons of water from being consumed each month! A big step toward protecting our environment, in other words.

* With abattery back-up, a solar power system can provide electricity day and night, no matter what the weather conditions. Other options such as back up generators or grid tie systems provide total security.

* On average a 1-kilowatt home solar system takes about 1-2 days to install and costs around US$10,000 (though prices are coming down), but can vary greatly and does not take into account any tax incentives offered by the government for reducing carbon emissions.

* Most systems come with a 5-year warranty, although the solar panels are warranted for 20 years. As technology advancesHealth Fitness Articles, some systems are even coming out with a 30 year warranty.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

DIY windmill … DIY wind generator … DIY wind power … DO IT YOURSEF!

Monday, October 26th, 2009

It is definitely worthwhile to learn more about renewable wind energy. By building your own wind turbines you can add needed dollars to your pocket and help the environment at the same time. It’s a breeze to get energy from wind with a few wind generator parts that are available at your local hardware store, some used auto parts and simple tools you probably already have laying around the house.

You are very smart to consider wind technology. You must be researching home wind power systems because you heard it is one of the top methods for creating free electricity. Wind is free, right? Do you need a better reason for do it yourself electricity.

How much will it cost? In order to build your own wind generator instead of paying for professional installation, it is possible to get your share of wind power generation for under $500. Power companies do not want customers learning how to make a wind generator because it’s an affordable DIY project that hurts them badly. You will see savings in no time.

Wind as a green energy source will be very efficient if you live in an area where wind is readily available. Do you live in an area like that? If you answered yes, then you MUST build your own wind generator. You need to get started ASAP. Save yourself some money and take part in helping our environment!

There is a little more to know then just building a wind turbine. The motors on wind turbines for homes do require regular maintenance and oiling for continued efficiency, but this is a small price to pay for the excellent energy home wind power systems provide.

There might be permits required and building regulations in your area, so check with your local building regulations before setting up wind turbines for homes.

Don’t you agree it is definitely worth your while to learn more about renewable electric wind generators? By building your own homemade wind energy you can add needed dollars to your pocket and help the environment at the same time. Do you need more reasons then those to get started?

It’s not complicated to build your own wind turbineArticle Submission, takes a little work which is worth all the effort once operational and lowering your electric bill.

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Solar power is the ideal way to save energy resources and to save you money on utilities in the proc

Monday, July 6th, 2009

With rising energy prices and seemingly dwindling energy sources, more and more people are looking for ways to save energy now. Whether you are looking to save energy at the office or save energy at home, you only have to look out your window to see the most obvious source of energy. Solar power is the ideal way to save energy resources and to save you money on utilities in the process.

Before you take the first step towards solar energy, you may want to look at how your home or office is using energy. Take a look around for all the appliances around your office or residence. There are of course a number of ideas on how to save electricity. The air conditioner is perhaps the largest drain on electricity in any building. You can learn how to save on electricity in the summer with central air. Use a thermostat to set one ideal temperature, and keep in mind that you want to turn up the thermostat in summer months to save electricity. In cooler months, keep the thermostat set lower and put on a sweater or layer your clothing to stay warmer.

Invest in a appliance that uses gas will save you energy. You can also save energy by turning off the lights when you aren’t using them, and unplug everything from major appliances to your cell phone charger when you aren’t using it to keep the phantom ghost from draining energy unnecessarily. To save on home energy costs can have many simple ways.

Yet even when you take these steps to lower your electricity bill, you are still pulling energy from the power plant and in effect draining the earth’s natural resources. There must be another way to save on home electric costs. The good news is there is a very simple solution – harnessing the power of the sun to power your house. If you have looked at solar power in the past, you likely have found it to be incredibly expensive. Installing solar panels on your house should not be a project for a rain day. Maybe you’re waiting for your car to be paid off or to finish paying for your daughter’s braces. Yet every day you put off installing solar panels on your home or office, you are losing money and wasting valuable natural resources.

There are a number of relatively inexpensive do-it-yourself solar panels kits on the market that allow you to save literally thousands of dollars on the cost of solar panels. All it takes from you is a little bit of time and effort into constructing the panels yourself. There is really no good excuse why you can not start saving on your home energy costs right away. In many cases, people that have taken the time and made the effort to convert to solar power have not only saved money on their electric bill, but often they have made more electricity from their solar panels than they can use. The result is that the power people will pay you for this excess energy!

Every day solar energy power shines down, yes even if it’s rainingScience Articles, on you make the savings switch today!

Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Family | No Comments »

Overview of Power Showers

Monday, May 4th, 2009

If you are renovating your bathroom and have allocated some budget for that, you would probably be looking for a shortlist of things that should receive priority. You shower is definitely one of them, especially if you have a gravity fed shower that suffers from an inefficient water flow at the shower head. Luckily, there are many solutions for this and installing a power shower is definitely amongst the most effective ones, as many plumbers recommend. Let’s take a brief look at what types of power shower systems are prevalent in the market and how they function.

Typical power showers come with a mixing valve that blends cold and hot water from the gravity fed lines and a built-in pump pushes up water so that you will get good water pressure at the shower head. So first thing to note is that power showers require both a hot water and a cold water supply line so that you can enjoy your bath in all weathers. Ideally, you should connect the lines using gate valves so that you won’t need to open up the whole system in case of a shower maintenance job. One could have both a manual power shower and a thermostat power shower; those with a thermostat would keep the temperature constant even if the supply feeds water to another line in your house. Once you have installed the shower correctly, the pump will start automatically whenever you open the shower.

Now there are three types of power shower systems currently available in the market. The first one is the typical power shower we discussed earlier, the one that has a built-in pump and mixer in a single unit. The mixing valve combines cold and hot water to bring water to the required temperature, while the pump pushes this water towards the shower.

The 2nd kind of power shower has a single-impeller pump, which is located in between the showerhead and the mixer. You won’t find many of these nowadays primarily because of their lack of adaptability and also because a better option comes at only a slightly higher price. Anyway, in these systems, cold and hot water lines feed the mixer, from where water moves upwards towards the shower head. The single-impeller pump then brings water to the showerhead, but this kind of pump requires installation close to the shower head for optimal usage. And since the pump has to be situated between the mixer and the shower head, the ideal place for it is the loft. But in extremely cold weathers, it can result in frozen water inside the lofts, and since the pump needs free air flow, the loft cannot be insulated.

The double impeller pump, which is the most adaptable power shower system, was designed to avoid this problem. The cold and hot water lines separately come into the pump, from where water is pushed with pressure towards the mixer separately in both lines. The mixer combines hot and cold water to get the required temperature and a single line then goes to the shower head. Since hot and cold water is pushed upwards, the resulting pressure at the shower brings a fast water flow.

Whatever power shower you choose, it’ll require electricity to power the pumps. Also, it can’t work with combination boilers as it requires the availability of separate hot and cold water pipes. A problem, however, is that they would result in lots of vibrations within the walls. So make sure that you have fitted the surrounding tiles smoothly in order to avoid damage to them.

Tags: , ,
Posted in Family | No Comments »

If you haven’t looked into solar power recently, you will be in for quite a surprise.

Thursday, April 16th, 2009

With a new and green administration in the White House, and with the media’s increasing coverage of the environment impact we are having on our planet, you likely are thinking of ways to improve your lifestyle and adopt green living practices.

You may have big dreams of starting your new green living by switching to solar power for your house. The good news is that if you haven’t looked into solar power recently, you will be in for quite a surprise. Where once it would take thousands of dollars of investment for you to switch to solar power and install solar panels to your house, there are now do-it-yourself solar panel kits on the market. These kits are affordable and relatively easier for a seasoned do-it-yourself er to install. Then, for only a few hours of your time and a few hundred dollars (rather than thousands of dollars), you can be living green!

You can also stretch your usage of solar power by looking at easy ways to save solar energy consumption. By making small changes to your household, you can drastically cut down your energy usage and get more bang for your green. First, save energy at home by turning off unused electronics and appliances. There is a phantom energy drain on many appliances that aren’t even turned on. If they are plugged into the wall, many appliances are using energy. This goes from your cell phone charger to your microwave, coffee maker, and even lamps. An easy project is to buy a few power strips and plug all of your main appliances into the power strip. Then when you aren’t using the appliances, you can simply turn off or unplug the main power strip.

Other ways to save on energy are just as simple. Your air conditioner is one of the largest drains of energy on your household, and you may be looking at how to save energy using A/C conservation tips. First, when your A/C is turned on, turn up the thermostat to save energy. Adjust the thermostat to 78 degrees or higher. Turn the A/C off completely on nice days or when you will out of the house for a full day or longer. When you will be out of the house for a few hours or longer, turn the thermostat up a few extra degrees. Use ceiling fans in the rooms are you in. Also, the proper maintenance of your A/C is critical. Be sure to get an annual maintenance on your A/C and change your filters regularly. Use weather strips on leaky windows and doors to keep the cool air inside where you want it.

Your clothes dryer is also a major energy drain, ranking among the highest energy usage appliances in your house. You can always dry your clothes on a clothesline in your backyard. But if that seems impractical or inconvenient, there is another green way. For a small priceFree Reprint Articles, you can save energy with a dryer conversion kit. These affordable kits are designed to convert the energy usage of your electric or gas dryer into a liquid propane usage dryer.

It’s not hard to be green. It simply takes a little effort to make small and easy changes to your daily life!

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in Family | No Comments »

« Older Entries