Super Star Solar

Super Star Solar presents the following article that highlights five great reasons to "GO SOLAR"!   Residential solar power systems are truly much easier, and often less expensive, than you may think.  For those that have installed solar systems, they have dramatically reduced their energy consumption, energy bills and find themselves able to be part of the solution of how we continue to wean ourselves from fossil fuel dependence.

Having a home solar power system installed or installing one yourself will require some thinking and planning. You first have to ask yourself why should you install a solar power system or have someone else do it for you.
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Super Star Solar wants you to know that there are ways to make money using solar energy, and becoming a residential solar power expert!  In fact, this article presents at least four ways you can make money with solar power! 

Solar energy has gone mainstream to the point where anyone can build their own fully functional electricity producing solar cells at home and on a budget. Consider these 4 money making and saving solar incentives for making the easy, affordable, one time switch to renewable solar energy.

Power Bills - On average, most households in the US spend $2500 annually on electricity to power their homes alone. Given the great efficiency of implementing homemade solar cells and solar incentives, you can drastically reduce that monthly bill or eliminate it altogether. Imagine having an extra $2500 in your annual budget each year just because you didn’t have to pay inflating utility costs. If you’re sick of it, many other Americans are as well, only they’ve gone ahead, taken the initiative to create their own energy at home, and have since moved off the grid.

Extra Energy - Whatever electricity which you produce from your solar cells but don’t consume in a given month is a surplus which can be fed back into the power grid and sold back to the power company for a tidy profit. The government reimburses the power company to do this. Many homeowners with extra land devote it to creating natural energy and cover it with solar cells to bring in a healthy profit or even second income. Imagine not paying but receiving an extra $2500 or more each year for no extra effort required on your part.

Tax Breaks - The government is interested in doing whatever it can to alleviate the on going energy crisis for our country and our planet. Consequently they reward those who live off the grid and are self reliant with considerable tax breaks. The Obama administration is particularly interested in renewable, clean energy devices such as solar cells, so you can expect a even more solar incentives for creating your own energy in the near future.

Selling Solar Cells - Many other homeowners are very interested in these same money making solar incentives and many are willing to pay top dollar for it. Some people who have made their own solar cells using DIY guides have gone on to construct multiple solar cells and sold them to other people for a tidy profit.

Author: John Wickley

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=John_Wickley

Super Star Solar and this interesting tutorial on solar energy.  Many consumers are unaware of how truly easy it can be to incorporate solar power to light, heat and cool their homes.  Renewable energy sources such as solar will continue to grow in importance as we need to wean ourselves from fossil fuel dependence.

Solar energy is the energy that is produced by our sun. During the fusion process that the sun undergoes during its lifetime, it emits radiation. The fusion process produces many different wavelengths of radiation and sub-atomic particles.

Collecting and converting usable energy from solar radiation can be accomplished by using many different forms of technology and includes various direct and indirect methods of harnessing the solar energy.

There are basically two ways to use this solar radiation, by collecting the heat from the light, and photovoltaic conversion of the light.

There are many different methods of collecting the heat and converting it to electricity, and many ways of converting the light as well. I’ll keep it simple here and give just a few examples.

One of the simplest ways that people use solar heat energy is by using greenhouses. A greenhouse is built so that it can best collect the sunlight and heat that it receives from the sun. Using special glass or plastics, the greenhouse and everything within it retains the heat energy from the sun. This heat is trapped inside the greenhouse by the roof and walls allowing plants to grow in an otherwise too cold climate.

By combining various technologies and the use of alternative power sources such as electricity from the grid, a controlled growing climate can be maintained to optimize specialty and agricultural crop growth.

A large greenhouse could make use of a solar updraft tower to generate most or all of the additional electricity it may require to keep the climate controlled.

A solar updraft tower is a simple use of the excess heat generated by light heat that the greenhouse receives. Heated air rises. Heated air is channeled from along the ceilings of the greenhouse and directed into a tower. The hot air rises and the turbine blades are pushed by the hot air rushing past them to generate electricity. Storing any excess power in batteries for the night when there is no sun can also keep the use of grid power to a minimum.

Expanding on the collection of heat from the sun, there are power plants in the hot sunny desert areas that collect the heat from the sun and convert the heat to electricity.

Some of these solar energy plants make use of curved, highly reflective and focused surfaces to optimize the collection of heat from the sunlight. They focus the light onto a central tube that is filled with synthetic oil that gets very hot. This hot oil is then piped into a boiler filled with water that is flashed into steam from the heat of the oil. The steam produced is then used to turn turbines that produce electricity. This is a highly effective way to convert solar energy into usable power.

Another way to collect the energy from the sun is through direct photovoltaic conversion. What this means is that the light is converted into electricity by using special materials called photodiodes that are made into cells. The photodiodes emit electrons when the photons from the sunlight hits them. By using arrays of the special cells and electrically connecting them together, enough power is produced by the transduction process to make it a worthwhile alternative energy.

As more and more people demand the use of free solar energy, governments as well as businesses are subsidizing researchers, and these combined efforts are meeting this demand by coming up with materials that can produce more and more energy from a given amount of sunlight. Solar electricity produced by arrays of solar panels is now almost as cost effective as using petroleum, coal, and nuclear generated power.

Author: Richard Hund

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Richard_Hund

Super Star Solar offers this interesting perspective on the history of solar power.  Solar power is something that we have used since we came out of caves, and we need to continue to drive the technology to harness the power of the sun so we can incorporate more and more renewable energy sources. 

Far from being a new technology the history of the use of solar power obtained from the sun is as old as time itself. Harnessing the sun’s power is a natural way in which to convert that power into some useful energy, from a plant using photosynthesis, to modern photovoltaic cells.
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Super Star Solar presents the following advice on how to create a homemade solar energy generator.  Incorporating solar power to power your home may just be more accessible and less expensive than you think!

Most people see a price tag of $50,000 when think of a solar power house. It doesn’t have to be this way. Learn how you can get started on your own with a few hundreds of dollars, especially if you are DIYer. When you are ready to go big, you can take advantages of several thousands of dollars worth of subsidies provided by virtually every government on earth.
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Super Star Solar and the answer to the question if solar energy is right for you and your energy needs.  There are many issues to consider if you wish to "go solar".  

Have you gone solar?  If so, what worked for you and what advice would you lend to others interested in committing to solar energy?

This article will answer the following questions: Should you consider solar energy? Is the technology mature enough? Does it make financial sense to go solar, is it a right time to consider? and what will be the Return On your Investment.
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