Solar DIY Panels

Traditional solar panels sit on top of a roof or a mounting pole and collect sunlight. These can provide enough power to run an entire home, depending on your climate and location in the world. Older model solar panels that stand up from the roof are still available, particularly in the used solar panel market, and they will cost less than the newer versions.

Newer versions of solar panels are hard to distinguish from roof shingles, and they work just as efficiently as the older types. Some people choose to build their own solar panels using broken panels, used panels, or by putting together smaller panels such as those for RVs and boats. Kits for making your own solar panels also exist for those who want to build their own solar DIY panels, but don't want to have to scavenge for materials.

Click here to learn how build your own solar panels and create your own energy!

The biggest benefit of solar energy for your home is that unless you plan to live for 7 billion years or so, you'll never run out of solar energy. Sure, using solar energy for your home requires strategies for storing energy for night time and for cloudy days, but there are numerous ways of dealing with this. Sunlight is also environmentally gentle because "using" sunlight doesn't result in the release of greenhouse gases or other pollutants.

Solar cells are very reliable and don't have any moving parts to wear out and replace. Because of this, they are also the only renewable energy source that operates silently. Though the up front cost of installing home solar energy systems is high, costs will be recouped within a couple of years due to lower energy bills. Other power systems don't have this kind of return on investment. In fact, some local power utilities will buy back or credit you with excess electricity you make with a system for solar energy for your home.

But like any technology, solar DIY panels have their own downsides. The up front expense is the main one. This is mostly due to the cost of the materials used to make photovoltaic cells. It's also one of the reasons that people choose to make their own solar panels rather than buying them ready-made. Face it: even with tax incentives, not everyone can come up with the thousands of dollars it takes to convert their home to run on solar power.

The other major downside to solar energy for your home is that solar panels have to be pretty big to be efficient enough to run a household. On top of that, pollutants and clouds will cut down on the amount of solar energy your system can generate. Battery backup systems are necessary to store extra energy generated during the daytime for use at night and on rainy or cloudy days.

If you're an American, you've probably heard about generous tax credits earned when you install solar panels for your home. For solar equipment purchased and installed by December 31, 2010, you get a tax credit of 30% of what you paid for your solar equipment and installation. For a pre-made solar panel, costs run between $700 and $800 before the tax credit. After the tax credit, costs will be closer to the $500 per unit level. On a "per-watt" basis, this runs $4.00 to $4.50 per watt before the tax credits. After tax credits, it's more like $2.80 to $3.15 per watt.

If you happen to live in an expensive energy market like in San Francisco, where electricity can cost $0.44 per kilowatt hour, a home solar installation can take fewer than five years to pay for itself. In cheaper energy markets, it can take up to 25 years to recoup the investment. However, solar panels that are cared for properly can easily last for 50 years. Another drawback is that today's solar cells are not all that efficient. Around one-fourth of the sunlight hitting a solar panel gets converted to solar energy for your home. However, people who build their own solar DIY panels can cut their up front costs roughly in half.

In some markets in California, people volunteer to work on solar installation crews for homes built by Habitat for Humanity. Training for installing solar panels would otherwise be prohibitively expensive or inconvenient otherwise. People volunteering on solar energy installation crews not only help people who are worse off financially, they gain a skill that is extremely valuable, particularly if they want to make their own solar DIY panels. Though some people may think that solar arrays are complicated pieces of equipment, they are actually simple devices that only require learning a few new skills to build them yourself. The component parts of photovoltaic arrays can be purchased separately for building solar DIY panels from scratch, and there are even ways to use broken solar cells to make new solar panels. This has the added benefit of keeping potentially usable technology out of landfills and on homes where it can benefit people who don't have the budgets for a wholesale conversion of their house to solar power generation.