Archive for February 11th, 2010
Pros And Cons Of Solar Power
Thursday, February 11th, 2010
Is it worth buying Solar power for a home?
My dad is retiring in a few years, and he is looking into this. I know that this is what one of my teachers did when he retired, but I don’t really want to ask him how it’s been goin
So, what are the pros and cons of buying solar power for a house?
P.S. I live in Canada and I live on the bay, so it is only sunny like 50-60% of the time.
Solar heating may be an excellent option for him. Rather than converting the sun’s energy to electricity at about 20% efficiency, you could convert it directly to heat at about 85% efficiency. You can use Solar Water Heating to heat your water instead of a traditional power consuming water heater, and solar air heaters to heat the air in the house, supplementing your existing heater.
The Canadian government has some grants available to help pay for it from their Grants under their ecoENERGY Retrofit – Homes program. http://oee.nrcan-rncan.gc.ca/residential/personal/retrofit-homes/questions-answers.cfm?attr=0#intro1
You can also look into a grid tied solar electric system that has solar panels and an inverter, but no batteries. You just generate some of your power during the day, and buy the rest from the electric company. That is much more affordable and less complicated than a battery based system.
You can read about a lot of the options at the AltE Store at http://www.altestore.com/store/.
Pros and Cons of Solar Panel Micro Inverters [Video]
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Xantrex Technologies Prosine 1000 Prosine 1,000 to 1,500-Watt Power Inverter $644.48 … |
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The Pros and Cons of Solar Power (Energy Debate) $23.95 … |
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Meade ETX70AT Telescope w/882 Tripod and Software $419.98 The ETX70AT is my favorite of all the low-cost computerized telescopes, because of its compact body and also because it is so easy to use. The ETX70AT package includes everything a beginner needs to get started (except batteries). So what can you see, exactly, with this little telescope? It will show you craters on the Moon, the rings of Saturn and the moons of Jupiter. Take it with you to dark co… |
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Orion ED80 80mm f/7.5 Apochromatic Refractor Telescope $499.99 I have been looking for quick “setup and go” telescope of superior quality for a few years, and I believe I have found that scope in the Orion 80ED. This is an amazingly compact, well performing little instrument that combines all the features I have been looking for in a single package. The only word for the optics is superb. When using the Orion 80ED to view the Moon and Planets, with magnific… |
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Celestron NexImage Solar System Imager $162.95 Amazon.com Review Celestron’s NexImage combines a sensitive CCD imaging device with powerful image processing software in one affordable package. Now anyone with a telescope can take pictures that are simply amazing. An image of Jupiter taken with the Celestron NexImage Solar System Imager Amateur astronomers have been taking great pictures of the moon and planets by using modified Web… |
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Garmin nüvi 265W/265WT 4.3-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator with Traffic $138.00 … |
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Eton ARCPT300W American Red Cross Axis Self-Powered Safety Hub with Weather Radio and USB Cell Phone Charger $49.97 Digital tuner with AM (520-1710 KHz) & FM (87-108MHz) NOAA weatherband – all 7 channels plus “Alert” Direct USB power transfer (includes USB cable) Built-in white LED light source Flashing beacon red LED light Can be powered from three different sources: 1) Self-Powered Aluminum crank with Hand Turbine Technology 2) From 3 AAA batteries (not included) 3) AC Power Digital clock with alarm… |