Using Solar Power Now:Some Options

A lot of people think solar power is an option for the future; something that's still down the road 5 or 10 years.  For some applications that may be true.  For a surprising number of applications solar power is an option now.  We'll look at ways you can use solar power now, look at ways solar power is being used around us, and then look at some places you can get

You can use solar power at a number of different levels. If you live in the north and have a large porch facing the afternoon sun glassing it in and insulating it can make a surprising difference in the adjoining section of your house during the winter. Of course you have to make provisions for preventing heat buildup in the summer. We did that with one of our porches and were amazed at the difference it made. Heat from the sun during the winter just feels good too, better than heat from a furnace.  I'm not sure why.

You also buy a variety of small-scale solar gizmos, some of them useful. My daughter has maybe half a dozen solar path lights in her flower garden. Looks beautiful at night. I have a little mini-panel that powers a light that shines on our back steps, helping us see our way up the steps at night. I also have a solar powered light in my shed. Charges a battery during the day and lets me work in the shed after dark. My aunt has a solar powered security light. Charges during the day and comes on at night when it senses motion. Handy because it doesn't require additional wiring. You can find a lot of this stuff at Farm & Fleet or Lowes, and most of it is under $50, with some of it under $20. If your car is going to be sitting for a while you can buy little solar panels to keep the battery topped up. They'll go for maybe $40.

Big serious solar energy applications are expensive, partly because they're still specialty items most places. The big three home applications are solar water heating, solar space heating and solar electricity. I haven't looked at solar heating lately, so I can't comment on it.  It looked like it was going to be big in the early 80's, then the cost of oil and natural gas went down and at least here in the Midwest solar heating kind of went away.

Solar electricity is the big push now. You can get solar panels, put them on your roof, and run all of your electricity from them if you're willing to pay the price. The price has come down a lot since the 1980s. In inflation adjusted dollars solar panels cost around one-fourth what they did in the early 1980s. They're still anywhere from 2 to 5 times more expensive than conventional electricity most places, though you can get tax incentives, at least until the end of 2008. The economics depends a lot on where you are. If you're in a cloudy area with cheap electricity solar may not be your best option. If you're in a sunny area with expensive electricity you may find that tax rebates and state incentives make solar electricity economically feasible now.

Part of the problem with solar electricity is that it is an upfront cost. You pays your money--$30,000 to $40,000--now, and then hopefully recoup the investment by paying little or no money for electricity for the life of the solar panels, which is generally considered to be 20 years.  Does that make sense?  Economically it may or may not depending on interest rates and what you would have payed for electricity from other sources over the 20 year life of the solar cell system.

For a complete solar electrical system you'll need the panels themselves, probably 4000 peak watts worth if you're in a sunny climate, more if you're in the Midwest or Northwest. You'll also need an inverter to change the electricity from the panels into the form your appliances need, and either a large bank of deep-cycle batteries to store the electricity for times the sun isn't out, or a device to allow you to draw power from the utility company when you need it. Installation usually costs more than the solar panels do, and in a lot of areas there aren't many experienced installers.

If you start looking for them, you'll see a lot of solar panels around.  If you drive down the highway and see a road construction sign with a message spelled out in lights that sign is almost certainly powered by a solar panel.  You'll see it at the top of the sign if you look for it.  In Illinois we're also starting to see solar-powered surveillance cameras on some tollways.  Not real thrilled about that, but if you look for them you may see them too.

To get some idea of what is out there in the way of solar electricity, you might want to check out Real Goods. They've been around a long time and seem to have a good selection. I haven't ordered anything from them in ages, so I can't vouch for the service. You may be able to find better prices elsewhere, but Real Goods is a good place to start if you want to see what is out there.  Some other places where you can get specialty solar stuff:

altE

Affordable Solar

Conserv A Store

Solar Power Generation

Solar Solutions Ltd

Wholesale Solar

Green And More

Solar Direct

Mr. Solar

The Free Energy Store

This is by no means a comprehensive list, and the fact that a store is on it is by no means an endorsement of it over one that isn't.  If you know of any other solar or energy efficiency vendors, feel free to add them to the comments.