Solar And Wind 4 Me

i see these things all over the internet on how to make ‘home made solar panels’ but all of them require you to buy the solar cells and nothing tells you how to make your own. So how can you make your own solar cells?

Firstly, to address the link pointed out by bwise; that’s hardly what constitutes what we mean by a "solar panel" is it? sure that can be a solar cell, but I’d like to see anyone build an array of these and get 175W of energy and compare the size difference between what we mean when we say "Solar Panel".

Ok, to the asker, i a not sure what you are referring to when you refer to these online "guides"; but if there is anyone one out there that has a a process of building solar panels from materials made in the home, not only is he going to become a billionaire but also I want a share of it

So, just to give you an understanding of what a solar "cell" is made up of and the complexity of the process in producing it, you will understand that to make a solar panel, you NEED to BUY the cells indeed.

Solar panels are made up of "solar cells", for sake of completeness. The solar cells on the other hand are made up of semiconductor technology, which is basically the stuff that runs our world today, commonly known as "chips" or computer chips. These "chips" that are in almost EVERY single electronic device that exists today can be made with different parameters to exhibit and/or exploit its various properties. Having said this, if you have a slight knowledge of electronics you will know what LEDs are. LED is an acronym for Light Emitting Diode. This is a device which when a voltage is applied, emits light as its name suggests and uses very little power. These are made with tiny chips enclosed in translucent housing so the light can be seen.

The solar panel works on the reverse principle. A solar cell has many LED like structures engineered to work in the reverse process. When the light hits these "cells" the electrons are energised by the photons (a light component) and they are mobilised producing current; i.e. electricity.

Now silicon, a semiconductor material is made from sand. (YES sand, like that of the stuff found on the beach It’s heated up to to a molten state, purified…etc etc… and then cut to circular discs called wafers, doped with boron or another depending on the required parameters, the stencil being applied and stuff…. all this being taken place in a multi million dollar semiconductor facility with clean rooms and where all the personnel working there are covered head to toe in white suits and masks whose breath might even be dangerous for the products being developed….

So, as you can see this is a very very very complicated and expensive process hence for anyone who has a much cheaper alternative, that is why I would want to be a part of it as it would be an electronic revolution.

So in conclusion, I would say from what I know and have conveyed the home production of conventional solar cells by us enthusiasts is pretty much impossible. Though, I would appreciate it if you could if you could give me a few of the links that you are referring to that sparked this question. I think it will be an interesting read at worst.

Hope this helped.

Does it take a Pro to hook up so it will work?

No. You don’t need to be a pro to hook up DIY solar panels. These guides are very easy to follow. If you are considering to buy one, maybe you want to check this DIY solar panels site.

Does anyone know why people don’t do this? There is a house that I saw on the news that is so energy efficient that the Solar panels paid for themselves in the first year. Plus on occassion the electric company has to buy the surplus electricity produced back from the home owner.

Solar energy for homes is great however there’s somet things that have to be taken into account.

If you live in souther california you get enough sun enough days of the year, if you live in some area that you have lots of cloudy days then they don’t do any good.

If the area is prone to hail (Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, etc) then you’re going to have chunks of ice flying at your expensive solar panels breaking them.

People when they’re originally building a home look at the up front cost, this is the reason you see so many people bitching about their heating and cooling bills. If they would have spent maybe 10% more they would have had a much higher level of insulation and would be saving a large amount of money. They’d probably also have more efficient heating, cooling, and electrical systems.

Am i saying it’s a bad idea to put up solar panels, no, if you’re in the right area then go for it, but people want something for nothing and it may look good or be in a good neighborhood but the operation costs are going to be high.

With the ecology craze in full swing (electric cars, hydrogen fuel cells, recycling) You would think they would start building homes with solar panels, but you do you see any such thing going on? No…..

Simple it would either have to be forced onto the buyer or the buyer would have to pay for them and Solar panels aren’t cheap mind you. And really the person probably doesn’t even give a crap about thier Impact on the Environment. It’s too bad more celebrites wouldn’t realize that charity is key to becoming famous and getting more business. Like someone should start a show Extreme home makeover where all the building is done Green and Eco-friendly.

Some states like TX and NJ will subsidize solar energy 40% worth.
But the technology to date has been quite costly in spite of these states’ subsidizing the cost. However, solar energy is starting to turn the corner cost-effectively in the past year or two.
Why is there no serious encouragement from the federal gov’t to encourage homeowners to install solar energy panels by offerering subsidies or rebates for installing it?
Would this be a good idea?

great idea…but the time hasent come yet. I came accross a new, proven and tested home made wind power system and solar power system which eliminates our electricity bills. It was written by a Renewable energy enthusiasts Michael Harvey the diy called Earth4energy. You can get your copy to save energy and help environment while eliminating your power bills. Get it from here:

http://how-to-build-cheap-solar-energy.blogspot.com/

why doesn’t the us gov spend 50 billion on solar panels… free electricity within 5 years there paid off and it’d probably save like ten million barrels of oil a year and create a lot of jobs within the country
if they can spend 800 billion of just borrowed money for the stimulus do the same for this project it’d pay itself off in cleaner air ec.. in ten years. else were gonna spend the next 50 trying to reverse this trend were in.

Because solar power is not efficient and requires back up power. Many places in the USA have only four hours of full sunlight daily on the average. Also, it wouldn’t save any oil as electricity is generated mainly with coal. I am off the net with solar power and I have to run a generator twice daily in the winter to keep the batteries charged and often have to run it even in the summer. there simply is not enough space for all the panels that would be needed. One of those ideas that sounds good on the surface but is impractical.

What is the average cost to start placing solar panels in your home? Any info on this would be appreciated, I live in Eastern KY. Thanks

In Kentucky, if you build over 500W, don’t forget that TVA will give you $500 and 15 cents per kWh for ten years just to buy your RECs. You need to do some complicated accounting to tell you what the cost is, since you’re buying something that will affect your finances far into the future.
There sure are a lot more incentives in KY for solar hot water than for solar PV. I would go with the hot water first, then use all the money you save to go with PV.

how much does it cost? is it reliable? if you also have their address and phone number, please include.

Thank you very much
Most of the listings on the Net were in the years 2007 and 2008, and so far I found only this Solar Electric Co (SOLARCO) 724 48 12, run by a certain Mr.Puckett.

You might also try the Green Architecture Movement, United Architects of the Philippines, at 53 Scout Rallos, QC 4126364, 3721796, for better info.

Costs may have come down from P70 thou and P60thou that they mentioned in 2007, but I am not sure.

Solar panel manufacturing could still be in the infancy stage, although big players like the Lopez Group and Shell Philippines are already in the field. Home use involves the solar panel plus battery plus inverters, although someone suggests to change some home wiring to 12V rather than go for inverters. There were also suggestions that China made appliances like airconditioning and refrigerators are available, running on solar power.

The waste products are the panels themselves as they age. Their lifespan is 10-25 years, depending on the panel, and any damage it receives during its lifetime.

Most of the products in the panels can be recycled. There are getting to be more plastics and vinyl used in the manufacture of the panels. Sometimes the plastics and vinyls are not easy to get recycled.

The biggest waste product however would be if the solar panels are used to generate electricity, and not just warm/hot water. If the panels generate electric, batteries are used to store the power in. The batteries are of course highly toxic. The batteries can also be recycled. They are filled with lead, and acid. Very bad for the environment if just dumped somewhere.

Passive solar…just heats water up in the solar panels (no electric produced)
Active Solar…produces electricity which is stored in multiple batteries (deep cycle marine batteries usually).

~Garnet
Permaculture homesteading/farming over 20 years

How many Residential Solar Installations are there in NJ?

See if you can track down the authority that gives out rebates in New Jersey. If they’re the equivalent of California, they will have reports and/or graphs of the present installed base, or at least the ones that applied for rebates (which is > 95% of them in California).

If all else fails, try the office of the Governor. They probably have guys to point you to this kind of info, it’s good PR for the state.