how do i install a solar powered electricity supply system in my 5-bedroom home?
343286
First off..  forget every air conditioner...  all of them.  Then forget your water heaters.  Then, forget almost all your appliances, including the 'fridge. As a matter of fact, for the size house you have, where you are, and what you use it for, forget photovoltaics altogether.  If I were you, knowing what little I know about your situation, I'd probably put up some solar hot water collectors, and maybe look into some wind power.  But it sounds like you are on the grid already...  why do you want solar?  If it's to save money, as they say on the sopranos... 'fuhgedabboutit!!!'  A grid-tied panel or two might give you a warm fuzzy feeling about helping green up the earth or something.. but the reality is that your payoff time is about 20 years on that..  and likely never given your location.  Solar panels get very inefficient when they get hot.. and hot is what you have.  Solar hot water will help some, depending on how much you use.  Go to homepower.org and educate yourself on the reality.  For remote locations it makes sense, but if you already have city power there, it usually doesn't.  Good luck, and be smart.
308968
if you are referring to creating electricity from uv light then any standard photovoltaic panel will do the job.  Depending on what photovoltaic material you use the efficiency will change, but because much UV is fairly close to the visible spectrum most will give you decent collection.
495940
Conventional PV will cost ~$4-5K per installed kw peak production.  So, take this and apply data for different areas as far as average day length for various times of the year that will have different weather conditions, etc.  I don't have that data handy for upstate New York, but you can get it from the link below.\n\nI'll make a guess of ~25% effectiveness in any one 24 hour period, this means each peak kw of production power will get you say 6 kwh per day, 365 days a year which gets you 2190 kwh per installed peak kw.   So, you'd need about 23 installed peak kw generating capacity to produce 50000 kwh per year, which would cost about $92K to install.
933834
The first step to energy independance is to reduce to an absolute minimum.  Having electric wires coming into our homes, we have become used to unlimited energy availability.  Find ways to maximize efficiency and minimize the amount of energy required.\n\nThe only reasonable budget I've seen from someone installing a full off grid system was in a house which was far from the existing power lines.  The cost to run poles and wires was on the order of $15000.  That immediately created an option for solar / wind and off grid independance.  The home owner installed solar panels for heat and battery charging.  A wind turbine supplemented the photovoltaic system.  He budgeted energy consumption and purchased very efficient appliances.  In the end his total energy created was just slightly over calculated requirements.\n\nIf you are entering this project with dreams of living forever with free unlimited electricity you will be sadly disappointed.  The equipment and installation is expensive.  The amount of energy being created is greatly limited and you will have to cut back greatly.  You will learn not to leave the television on with no one in the room.  No more lights on in every room either.\n\nIt is a very positive project, and absolutely worthwhile.  I'm working on a small wind turbine project.  It will consist of a 800 watt generator mounted on top of an 80 foot guyed tower.  Right now it's tied up in municipal permits and other nonsense.  In the end I hope to generate about 10% of my household electrical requirements.  Payback time, assuming no downtime, maintenance or repairs will be about 12 years.  Clearly it is not a money saving investment.  I view it as a hobby to learn with and explore.  I could blow an equal amount of money in a few months on cigarettes or beer and have nothing to show for it in the end.  My justification for the money spent is to have fun with it.\n\nHave a look at the project as it has proceeded so far.  I have the wiring diagram, charge controller circuit, pictures of foundations, and so on online.  Contact information is there as well.\n\nhttp://members.rennlist.org/warren/wind.html\n\nGood luck with your project!
1096290
I suspect you may have to install seperate systems and in respect of central heating you would have to have isolation valves to allow transfer from pressurised to gravity fed system - it would be complx but technically acheivable - I currently run two seperate heating systems in a now combined house (formerly two) and have considered this.\n heating of mains pressure water via wood stove boiler and or solar would be difficult and therefore a gravity fed system would be required.\nThorough planning and installation of switching options is required
723548
There is a website that sells a solar powered charger. We got one for my brother. It charges his cell phone, ipod, pda, anything.
719073
As taken from the EERE Solar energy basics website:\n\n"Sunlight—solar energy—can be used to generate electricity, provide hot water, and to heat, cool, and light buildings.\n\nPhotovoltaic (solar cell) systems convert sunlight directly into electricity. A solar or PV cell consists of semiconducting material that absorbs the sunlight. The solar energy knocks electrons loose from their atoms, allowing the electrons to flow through the material to produce electricity. PV cells are typically combined into modules that hold about 40 cells. About 10 of these modules are mounted in PV arrays. PV arrays can be used to generate electricity for a single building or, in large numbers, for a power plant. A power plant can also use a concentrating solar power system, which uses the sun's heat to generate electricity. The sunlight is collected and focused with mirrors to create a high-intensity heat source. This heat source produces steam or mechanical power to run a generator that creates electricity."
402260
couple of choises. pool heater or a pool heat pump. or even a solar heater. try this link and see if any would work for you.\n\nhttp://www.swimmingpoolsetc.com/poolheaters.htm\nhttp://www.swimmingpoolsetc.com/pool-heat-pumps.htm\nhttp://www.swimmingpoolsetc.com/solar-heater-ig-pools.htm\nhttp://www.swimmingpoolsetc.com/solar-heater-ag-pools.htm
599982
The idea is to provide more solar intensity for a longer time on the solar cells thus yield more watt hours of energy than a  fixed array. (You generate power earlier and later in the day than a fixed array). It costs more to install than a fixed array and you will need to do your homework to determine how long it will take for payback (Cost of equipment vs KWH increase). Generally in the very long run it is worth installing a solar tracker if you have the bucks.\n\nVisit www.homepower.com to learn more.
956987
I've put together a web site regarding portable generator use and connection for home backup use.  Take a look and email with any questions you may have.\n\nhttp://members.rennlist.org/warren/generator.html
417548
You could, but there would need to be an efficicent and cost-effective way to do it. There are very large Uninterruptible Power Supplies out there that can be there, in-line, that would act like a buffer.\n\nIt is possible to reverse electricity to an electrical utility. In fact, you can 'farm' electricity and make money doing it.  You simply need a power switch, and some compliance switching devices to feed it back. Its been done with the solar power industry for years.
587734
Yes....do it on alternative energy sources
1026300
Not sure how they compare but here is a guide about geothermal specifically for NY!\nhttp://www.nyserda.org/programs/geothermal/geothermal_manual.pdf\n\nI'm working on the same problem for Orlando\nhttp://hurricaneharbordreamhome.blogspot.com/\n\nAs for solar, you may want to start with using it for you hot water.  A typical house uses 70gals of hot water per day.  This would be    the cheapest system to start with.\n\nAfter that you may want to keep an eye on the recent solar->electric panels from a new Nano tech company.  They use a special printer to print the cells rather than using expensive silicon.
939391
The big expense is the cost of setting up.  Solar power is not particularly efficient at the moment so you have a lot of infrastructure that you have to put in.  Australia has just started funding a solar project recently\n\nhttp://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20645117-28737,00.html\nhttp://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/international/news/20061025p2g00m0in017000c.html\n\nThese are a few articles on it.  The other costs are the drawbacks.  You have to store the power because power usually peaks at night time and solar power peaks during the day.  So you have the cost of energy storage on top of the plant costs.  To be totally honest with you I don't think anybody has a very accurate idea yet on how much it will cost to produce solar power.  It is an older technology but it has not until recently been investigated on the scale that people are looking producing today.  So there are costs of unforseen problems that will have to be factored in.  These costs should drop over time as solar power becomes more common but the initial outlay may be substantial.\n\nAnyway I wish I had more to say, Good luck with your research project.
415601
Hi,\n\nIf your in the UK their is a good electrical componant company that sell alsorts of stuff i believe they sell solar cells ranging from 2.0v - 6.5v but you can bank them to create larger voltages. www.maplin.co.uk\n\nIf your in the US www.mouser.com is good (as im UK i haven't used this though it is widely described as a good company for componants by the yanks.\n\nGood Luck!!\n\nWill
846799
It takes energy to push that current through your lights and appliances, and that's what your paying for. One way to see it is to consider that what comes out the downstream prong is at 0 volts and therefore of no use to anyone. Or, you could just wire all your lamps in series and see how that works!
1150929
Take a look at your electric bill.  It will tell you what your average daily electrical consumption is.  You will need some form of electrical production that meets that amount every day.\n\nMost home battery systems use 12 volt batteries connected in series to obtain a high voltage.  Then the batteries are connected to an inverter to produce 120 volts AC.  You can buy inverters that are rated for about 5 kW.  If you have a pair of those, one on each leg of your electrical connection (L1 & L2) it is good for 10 kW of power which should be enough for a most homes.  The reason for being able to handle high power is that sometimes the refrigerator, A/C, stove and TV may be on at the same time and draw a lot of power even if it is for a short time.\n\nThe size of your battery bank will depend on your generating system.  If you can generate continuously, the battery capacity can be reasonably small.  If you are relying on solar and wind energy and have to account for a few days of overcast skies and no wind, the batteries have to be quite large.  Sizing the batteries takes a bit of research.