Solar Power, a Great Way to Get Off the Grid

• To heat things, such as water or air. This is known as thermal energy.
• To create electricity. This is known as photovoltaics. This is what most folks think of when they’re talking about energy from the sun.

This current can either be used immediately or stored in a battery for later use.

Heating Things Up With The Sun

Use it especially during the summer days to cut down on your electrical costs (no hot stove on, thus less strain on your air conditioner) and save energy (no electricity used to power your stove).

If you’d like to save money on the cost of hot water, there are a couple of options available. If you live in a really sunny location where it rarely freezes, a passive batch water heater might be just the ticket for you.

Otherwise, you will need a more active system using flat plate collectors. An excellent article explains these two systems that heat your water using the sun's rays.

Getting a Charge From Photovoltaics

The more cells you have, the more power they can produce. If you want to go completely off the grid, be warned that you will need a lot of modules (Translate: Lots of dollars).

However, you could start with a modest number of panels and increase those panels as your pocketbook allows.

For example, with a little more than $1,000 (2007 American currency value) you could install an 80 watt solar panel system with four deep cycle batteries and a 400 watt inverter.

According to Lamar Alexander in his fascinating book Simple Solar Homesteading that’s enough power to run a 95 watt flat screen television set, along with house lights for a small cabin, a 12-volt RV style water pump and a portable 7-inch DVD power for 3-4 hours per night.

It can also be used to charge a laptop computer and cell phone.

And for backup power, you can build your own solar energy generator at a reasonable price to have on hand for emergencies.

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