Solar Energy Advantages: Solar Energy is Turning Up the Heat!

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Wondering which alternative energy is best for you? This list of solar energy advantages and disadvantages should help you decide.

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Why Solar Energy? 

Before I get into the many advantages of solar energy, I'd love to know what attracted you to solar power over other alternative energy sources.

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How Solar Energy Changed My Life... 

A little over a year ago, my neighbor Ben told me that he had stopped paying his electric bill, and the power company was actually paying him for the extra power he was generating from solar energy!

As you can imagine, I was interested in doing this, too. But...

Ben is one of those handy-man types, and I doubted I could ever tackle a project like this on my own.

Long story short, I realized that it would cost a small fortune to have someone install solar panels for my house, but Ben showed me the exact guide that walked him through the process, so I gave it a shot.

Fast forward to today: I've saved almost $3,000 after investing in the book and all of the supplies I needed to build my own little solar energy system.

Building the whole thing only took 3 days, and it was more than worth it...

Curious like I was?
Check out "Earth4Energy", the guide that taught me all about it:

Top 10 Solar Energy Advantages 

There are tons of benefits to using solar energy, whether it's to charge your laptop, run your car, or even power your home.

These are, in my opinion after building my own solar power system (along with the help of some research), the most important advantages of solar energy:
  1. Solar energy is an unlimited source of energy (renewable), unlike the fossil fuels our society depends on.

  2. It's completely clean energy! There's no burning of coal, producing harmful gases, or polluting the Earth with solar power.

  3. There's practically no maintenance involved. (I have touched my home solar energy system exactly two times since I installed it over a year ago...)

  4. It's FREE! Once you've paid for the system, there are virtually no ongoing costs. (Try doing that with gas or coal! NOTE: I spent a whopping $241 on my solar power system thanks to the advice from Ben and Earth4Energy.)

  5. Solar energy is great for the environment...because it's what keeps the environment alive! =)

  6. Solar panels are completely silent, and will not annoy you in any way. Most the time they even look cool & futuristic. Or, if you don't like the way they look, they can be placed high on your house so that people won't notice them.

  7. Solar panels last a VERY long time.

  8. It is a reliable & safe form of energy, that does not require ongoing effort to sustain.

  9. It is a lot easier than you might think to setup your own solar power system from home. Trust me: if I did it, you can! (I'm terrible with stuff like this, but I built a solar power system that saves me about $80/month, in one weekend...)

  10. Solar energy is a fantastic investment! Like I said, I have saved over $3,000 on my energy bill in the last year or so.

    In case you're wondering about the math: I started out with just one small system, then I reinvested my energy bill savings to setup more panels, install a battery to store energy overnight, and add a small wind turbine to save a total of almost $3,000.

Build Your Own Solar Power System!

Ready to take action to save money and help the environment? Learn to build your own solar energy system:

Solar Energy's Disadvantages 

Yep, just like anything else, there are some disadvantages of solar energy. It's not perfect...

After setting up my home solar panel system, I'd have to say the biggest disadvantage of solar energy is the fact that I had to install it myself since it costs so much to have someone else do it.

Once it becomes more common for people to power their own homes with solar panels, I would imagine the price will go down. But, for now, it's good to build your own solar energy system.

Here are the major disadvantages of solar energy:

- You have to use a battery to store the energy you create during the day, because it won't work at night. ;)

- It takes quite a few solar panels to completely power a home, meaning it takes more than a weekend's worth of work and a couple hundred bucks to knock your power bill out completely. (But, you can easily save $40-$120/month from 1-2 panel systems.)

- If there is a lot of rain, clouds or even pollution, in your area you will have a disadvantage with the amount of power you can generate from your panels.

All things considered, I recommend using solar energy as both an investment and to help the environment by reducing the amount of non-renewable resources we consume.

While it's a disadvantage to some, the most common option is to build the system yourself.

Believe me when I say that this is not a walk in the park (unless you're an electrician or something), so don't let people act like it's a piece of cake.

That said, I am terrible with handy-man projects, but I was able to follow the diagrams and instructions in this guide and build my own solar power system in less than 3 days.

Solar Energy Advantages Video 

I thought this video was entertaining and did a nice job of showing some of solar energy's advantages, so feel free to check it out:

Personal use solar energy systems

curated content from YouTube

Solar Energy Has its Advantages, But... 

You know all about solar energy's advantages, but that won't do you any good.

Why, you ask?

Well, I left something out of my story earlier. When Ben told me about how he was saving money with his solar panels, I didn't do anything about it.

Stupid, I know, but knowing that it could be a great thing to do didn't save me almost $3,000, did it? Nope!

So, when I finally took action and built it, I started saving money every month on my power bill.

Anyway, take what you know and do something about (unlike what I did). That's actually why I made this page:

After I realized how much money I was saving using solar panels for my house (and how much it helps the environment), I decided to spread the word about it!

Well, I hope this helped you decide.

Good luck building your own solar power system, and have fun telling the power company you won't be needing their service anymore. ;)

- Emily

P.S. - While it's possible to find some random forum or video that clearly explains how to build a solar energy system for your home, I would not recommend it.

Ben also told me that he messed up twice before breaking down and investing in "Earth 4 Energy", the guide that helped us both safely build & install our systems:

Earth4Energy.com