5 Things to Consider When Building a Solar-powered Home

Key Takeaways

• Five innovative features of a solar-powered home include solar panels, energy-efficient appliances, smart home technology, green roofs and rainwater harvesting systems.
• Solar homes can reduce environmental impact, lower energy bills and promote sustainable living practices.

In the last 10 years, homes with rooftop solar arrays have gone from curiosity to commonplace. It's a trend perhaps best exemplified by Home Depot's decision to start stocking solar panels in [source: DOE].

If you want to learn more, please visit our website Jiasheng.

The technology has been available for decades -- NASA has been using solar-powered satellites since the s, and as far back as World War II, passive solar heating systems (which turn solar energy into heat instead of electricity) have been used in U.S. homes [sources: Southface, DOE].

Advertisement

Getting active solar systems in the mainstream residential market has proved a challenge, though. Active solar power uses arrays of photovoltaic cells to convert sunlight directly into electricity, and it has traditionally been a prohibitively expensive technology.

The benefits of residential solar power are obvious: Energy from the sun is endless (at least for the next 5 billion years, give or take); it provides clean energy with no greenhouse-gas emissions; and it can save people money on their electric bills [source: APS]. But there are factors to consider when deciding whether solar power would be a good choice for you -- and cost is only one of them.

In this article, we'll look at five of the most important issues to address when you're thinking about investing in a residential solar-power setup. Using photovoltaic energy is a very green and potentially rewarding move, but it's not quite as straightforward as getting your power from the established electrical grid.

The first consideration is one you may not have thought of: Do you have to do anything to the solar panels once they're up there on your roof?

Powering your home using solar energy does require more maintenance than using the regular old grid power. But not much.

Solar panels have no moving parts. They are part of a completely stationary system. So once they're installed, there's not a whole lot that can go wrong. Pretty much the only thing a homeowner needs to do is keep the panels clean. It's an important task, though -- too much dust and bird droppings on the panels can reduce the amount of sunlight striking them. Dust buildup can reduce the amount of electricity produced by the system by as much as 7 percent [source: CalFinder].

Advertisement

This type of maintenance is not something that needs to be done once a week, though. You'd probably only have to hose the panels down anywhere from one to four times a year [source: CalFinder]. You don't need to get on the roof. A hose and nozzle from ground level works fine. If there's construction in your area, you may have to clean the panels more often to avoid the extra buildup of construction-dust residue.

Aside from that, you're just looking at occasional check-ups to make sure all parts are in working order. You may eventually have to have the inverter replaced (and the batteries if you have a battery-storage system), but that's a once-a-decade type of maintenance event.

Up next: Got a lot of trees on your lot?

Where your home is situated has a big effect on your solar-power efficiency. It's an obvious concern: If your electrical-power generation depends on sunlight, things like towering shade trees and tall, shadow-casting buildings are going to be a problem.

It's an even bigger problem than some people realize, though. Different types of panels react differently to shade. While a poly-crystalline panel will substantially reduce its output if any part of the panel is shaded, a mono-crystalline panel will stop producing electricity entirely.

Advertisement

So to build a solar-powered home, it's necessary to make sure there are no shadows on the roof's panel area during the sunniest hours of the day (typically from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.), and preferably during all sunny hours [source: AEG]. The more hours the panels spend exposed to full sun, the more efficient the power generation will be.

Achieving the greatest efficiency level might mean cutting back trees on your property (and keeping them cut back). If your home is surrounded by tall buildings that block the sun from your roof, this is a much bigger problem.

Which brings us to the next big consideration: sunlight.

Sunlight is obviously key when it comes to solar power, and not all regions are created equal in this regard. It's important to know how much sunlight reaches ground level in the area where your potential solar house is located.

What we're talking about here is insolation -- a measure of how much solar radiation hits the ground in any given area in a specified time period. It's typically measured in kWh/m2/day, and it tells you how much sunlight will be available for your solar panels to turn into electricity. The higher the insolation value of your location, the more electricity each of your panels will be able to generate. A high insolation value means you can get more power out of fewer panels. A low insolation value means you could end up spending more to achieve the same power output (more on expenses later).

Advertisement

If you live in a place like Phoenix, Ariz., or Albuquerque, N.M., you're golden. They've got super high insolation ratings, 6.58 and 6.77, respectively [source: CleanBeta]. This means in Albuquerque, 6.77 kWh worth of sunlight falls on each square meter of Earth in the course of one day (on average). In Portland, Maine, on the other hand, one square meter of land receives 4.51 kWh worth of sunlight in a day [source: CleanBeta]. And Chicago sees just 3.14 kWh/m2/day [source: CleanBeta].

Does that mean you have to build your solar-powered home in the Southwest instead of the Midwest? Not at all. It just means that in Chicago, a solar setup is going to be less efficient than a similar setup in Albuquerque. You're probably going to need more panels to achieve the same power output.

That brings us to No. 2 on the list: How many panels do you need?

Contrary to what most people think, the size of a solar-power installation has nothing to do with the size of the house it's powering.

Instead, it's all about two things: insolation, which we just discussed, and how much power you need. If you live in Albuquerque and you don't use much power, you need a smaller system. If you live in Chicago and run a circa- electric furnace all day every day, you're looking at a lot more panels on your roof.

Advertisement

To get a very rough estimate of how big a system you need, look at your electric bill and figure out how many kWh you use per day. The average home in the United States uses about 900 kWh every month, or about 30 kWh per day [source: DOE]. Multiply that by 0.25 [source: GE]. We come up with 7.5, so we need a 7.5 kW system.

A typical solar panel produces a maximum of 120 watts, or 0.12 kW, in a day [source: Richards]. For a 7.5-kW setup, then, you'd need about 62 panels. A single panel might measure about 56 by 25 inches (142 by 64 centimeters), so a 62-panel solar setup would measure roughly 700 square feet (65 square meters).

Want more information on solar shingle manufacturers? Feel free to contact us.

There's more that goes into this calculation, though. You have to figure in insolation and how many hours of peak sunlight you get per day, and you'd also make adjustments if you're using a battery-storage system with the panels. So it's best to consult a pro.

But assuming this is roughly the system you'd need to power your home, how much of a financial investment are we looking at for a 7.5-kW solar setup?

Up next, perhaps the greatest consideration of all: the expense.

In , solar panels ran about $300 per watt [source: Southface]. A 7.5-kW system would have been out of the question for all but the shockingly rich.

Today, prices are down considerably. In most areas, solar arrays run about $7 to $10 per watt. You'll be paying closer to $7 if you install it yourself, and closer to $10 if you have a professional do it. For a 7.5-kW array, or 7,500 watts, you could pay anywhere from $50,000 to $75,000 dollars.

Advertisement

If you need less electricity, of course, the number gets lower. If you only consume 600 kWh in a month, or 20kWh/day, you could supply all the energy you need with a 5-kW system. That would cost closer to $40,000.

Thousands of dollars in tax credits do bring the cost down considerably -- in New Jersey, for instance, homeowners buying a $50,000 system will get $12,500 back from the state on top of the $11,000 federal rebate. So in New Jersey, that system would end up costing $26,500.

Of course, it's not an all-or-nothing arrangement. You can always partially power your house using solar. If you want to invest in a $10,000 solar array, you can supplement grid energy with a 1.5-kW solar system.

Still, tens of thousands of dollars for a solar array is still pretty cost-prohibitive -- especially since it can take decades to make that money back in energy savings [source: WeatherImagery].

Along those lines, a recent development in the solar-power industry puts solar panels within reach of those who don't have thousands of dollars to spend on clean energy. There are companies now across the country that rent out solar panels. There's no upfront charge. Homeowners pay a monthly rental fee to use the panels, and the rental company owns and maintains them. This could remove the huge cost consideration from the equation.

For more information on solar and related topics, look over the links on the next page.

Harnessing the power of the sun is not only good for the environment, but it also saves you a lot on your electricity bills. However, before investing in solar panels, it is better to explore the different available options in the solar market. Solar shingles are a magnificent option for homeowners seeking to add value to their properties. Photovoltaic shingles are a relatively newer technology as compared to solar PV modules. Due to their smaller size, the number of solar roof shingles required to power your home is greater than the number of solar panels. In this article, let’s take a look at some of the best solar roof shingles available for your home in .

Solar shingles, also known as solar roof tiles, are thin sheets of photovoltaic (PV) material designed to be used in place of or on top of traditional roof shingles. This technology was initially developed by Dow Chemical. The purpose of solar shingles is to offer homeowners an affordable and aesthetically pleasing option for harnessing solar energy. In addition to electricity production, these shingles can also serve as a durable and weather-resistant roofing material.

PV shingles are thin-film solar cells (TFSC) that are usually made from copper indium gallium selenide, which is a semiconductor that allows the cells to be thin and flexible. This material is renowned for having the highest conversion efficiency rates, an average of approximately 10-12 percent. On the other hand, some manufacturers utilize monocrystalline silicon (mono-Si), a natural semiconductor commonly used in computer chip production. Mono-Si cells have an efficiency rate of about 15-20 percent, but they tend to be pricier than the TFSC.

Solar roof tiles are made of thin photovoltaic (PV) sheets. These thin layers absorb sunlight and eventually convert it into electricity. By utilizing solar shingles, homeowners can save money on their monthly bills and eventually recoup their initial investments. Solar shingles are fixed and can be easily installed in place of your existing roof tiles.

The electricity generated by solar shingles depends on the specific brand and type you choose. Typically, solar shingles produce 13 to 63 watts of power. According to estimates, if you install around 350 solar shingles, you can potentially reduce your average utility bill by 40 to 70 percent. However, it is important to note that you need an energy inverter kit in order to utilize the sunlight captured by the shingles.

There are quite a lot of solar panel providers available in the solar market these days. However, there are only a few companies that manufacture the best roof shingles, so your options become quite limited when it comes to purchasing solar tiles.

This is the prime benefit of installing solar roofs. If you are building a home or need a new roof then installing solar shingles would be a better financial option for you. With the help of solar tiles, you will be able to construct an attractive and brand-new roof.

The technology behind solar shingles is still evolving and improving. It is worth noting that not every existing roof is suitable for solar shingle installation, and in some cases, you may need to rebuild the entire roof just to accommodate them.

• Net metering:

Solar panels and shingles both offer you the benefit of net metering. This means that you can send the surplus electricity back to the grid station in exchange for bill credits.

• Solar incentives and rebates:

Solar system and shingles are eligible for federal as well as state incentives.

• Cutting-edge technology:

Both utilize modern cutting-edge technology in their manufacturing.

• Reduce carbon footprint:

Both solar panels and shingles produce clean energy with zero percent carbon emissions. Thus, helping you fight climate change while keeping your carbon footprint low.

• Reduce your electricity bill:

Both the solar system and roof tiles provide you with clean and cheap electricity.

• Twenty-five-year lifetime warranty:

Solar panels and photovoltaic tiles offer a 12-year performance warranty and a 25-year life warranty.

• Increase your property value:

Solar systems and photovoltaic shingles both increase your property’s value.

The solar roof system is more expensive than the PV modules. For a -square-foot home, a solar roof costs about $40,000 to $65,000. Meanwhile, an average solar array installation in the U.S. costs approximately $10,000 to $20,000 after rebates and incentives. With financing options like solar loans, you can own solar panels without causing any dent in your budget.

To determine the number of solar shingles required to power your house, you need to consider factors such as the size of your house and your average energy consumption. Solar shingles can be seamlessly integrated into your current roof, and the quantity of shingles needed is affected by the size of your rooftop. In general, greater number of shingles will result in higher energy production.

In conclusion, solar shingles offer a sleek and attractive option for harnessing solar energy while integrating seamlessly with existing roofs, particularly concrete and asphalt roofs. Although they are still a developing technology, solar shingles are weather-resistant and require less maintenance as compared to solar PV modules. While they may be more expensive and offer limited style and color options, many brands are working towards creating the best solar roof shingles for homeowners. With their ability to generate clean energy, they can potentially reduce your electricity bills. As technology continues to advance, solar shingles have the potential to revolutionize the way we generate and utilize solar energy.

For more top 10 BIPV manufacturersinformation, please contact us. We will provide professional answers.