Residential Solar Energy Systems

Residential Solar Energy Systems help to reduce the household energy cost.

For a typical modern home the expenses on energy take a growing portion of the family budget. Homeowners are searching for ways to cut their expenses on transportation, lighting, water heating, space heating, air conditioning and electrical appliances.

How to reduce the domestic energy expenses?

The first step is to save energy, by applying energy conservation tips. Next step is to use renewable energy resources, namely small wind turbines and the Sun. We use the term solar as “related to the Sun and its rays”, the origin is the Latin word solaris (sun).

In the context of homes, there are two distinct mechanisms to use Sun radiation:

• solar thermal, converting the sun rays to heat by using the greenhouse effect
• residential photovoltaic, converting sun rays directly to Direct Current (DC) electricity by using the photovoltaic effect

Comparison of Cost Effectiveness

Comparing the payback period (the time it takes to recover the original investment) solar thermal systems will show a better Return on Investment rate than residential photovoltaic systems and a much shorter payback time.

Solar thermal systems are used for the following applications (ordered according to popularity and maturity):

1. Different types of solar water heaters
2. solar pool water heaters
3. Different types of solar space heaters
4. solar air conditioners

For off-grid power generation, off grid photovoltaic power generators are best fitted. Hybrid systems, solar and wind combined, backed by a small diesel generator provide the best of all worlds off grid solution.

Future trends

Solar thermal systems are mature so their price is already low. The manufacturing technology of photovoltaic panels is going through a cost reduction process. This price reduction is facilitated through using cheaper materials instead of Silicon, automated production lines, mass production and testing. Prices to the consumer are pushed down due to increased competition as more competitors enter the arena. An important factor for off grid power generation is the cost of electric storage deep cycle batteries. Work is under way to develop better, cheaper and longer life storage batteries.