You’d have to look long and hard to find someone who doesn’t know that solar energy has many advantages when used in the home. Cost-saving is the most often cited benefit. Sunlight is free, and so is the energy it generates. But, residential solar energy systems are still a little too expensive for you to embrace the concept without knowing exactly what returns you’ll get from your investment.

One of the first things you need to know is that solar energy doesn’t necessarily rely on expensive solar panel arrays. Solar panels are active solar energy systems; they convert solar energy into electrical energy that you can use to power things around your house. Passive solar energy systems are simpler; they maximise and optimise the sunlight available and use it in its raw form. Specially glazed and insulated windows and skylights are examples of passive solar energy systems.

Passive systems are a good way to go if you have a limited budget or are testing the water before committing to a major solar energy overhaul.

Using solar energy in your home

Enough with the theory, let’s look at some of the ways in which solar energy can make a practical difference to your life – and your bills.

1)     It keeps you warm

You can use passive and active solar systems to heat your home. Passive systems invite natural heat and light into your home and then refuse to let it leave. Active systems use solar collectors and heat pumps to distribute warm air throughout your home.

If you’re willing to make a significant investment and give your home a redesign, you can also consider . Install these water-filled greenhouse fiberglass tubes in areas of your home that get a lot of sunlight and the heat absorbed during the day will gradually be released during the night.

2)     It keeps your water warm

Geysers use up a fair chunk of electricity but you can’t imagine life without them. Solar water heating will save you a fair chunk of money. So, when your geyser decides to kick the bucket, why not replace it with a ? You’d have to spend money replacing the geyser anyway, and, depending on where you live, you may get a rebate or subsidy for going the solar route.

Active and passive come into it again. An active system uses pumps to circulate the hot water (and the heating fluid). Passive systems use good old natural convection. Passive systems are the cheaper of the two.

3)     It keeps you fed

For millennia people have been using the power of the sun to cook. We don’t use it because we’ve become so used to switching on the stove or pressing start on the microwave. concentrate the available sunlight, convert it into heat, trap the heat, and cook the food.

They are cheap and easy to use. You simply chop up your veggies or prepare your meat as normal, plonk it in the cooker and walk away. The only downside is that they are not as fast as stove tops or microwaves, so you need to give your food time to cook properly. On the other hand, because solar cookers are safe, you can prepare your food the night before, dump it in the cooker in the morning and come home to a perfectly cooked meal in the evening.

4)     It keeps your battery-operated devices juiced

You may not think that it takes much electricity to charge your mobile phone, laptop, or tablet, but little bits add up to a lot. save you those little bits – and every little bit helps. Solar-powered chargers can also be used to charge the various D, C, AA, and AAA batteries that keep your hi-fi, electric shaver, flashlight, and assorted electric kids’ toys running.

5)     It brightens up your life

Solar energy can be captured and saved and used to power indoor and outdoor lights. These days, you can buy a range of attractive solar-powered desk lamps and floor lamps that can replace your overhead lighting.

Outdoor solar lights have been around for what seems like ages. They can be used as decorative garden lights and as security floodlights. Floodlights are able to store enough energy during the day to stay on all night if necessary, and that does add up to quite a saving.

You don’t need a lot of expensive systems to benefit from solar energy. Simple and heating systems, solar chargers, and cheap solar cookers will make a difference to your bills. Once you are a convert, and the savings have become noticeable, you can consider taking the plunge and investing in the more hardcore systems, like solar panels, water heaters, and maybe a couple of heat storage tubes.

License: Creative Commons  

lives in sunny South Africa, where the climate is ideal for solar energy and where solar powered systems have been successfully used to bring electricity to the homes of the country’s many disadvantaged communities. Southeast Green welcomes her as a guest blogger to share information that will help everyone.