Pretty much, can solar panel’s support the entire houses electrical needs generally, because I know sometimes the owner’s can sell unused electricity back, any ideas or any ideas on how much the average home uses in kWh

It all depends on how you define ‘needs’. Could you have enough lighting and enough power to keep the fridge running? Easy that. A passive solar water heater would produce enough hot water for showers and cleaning, no problem there. If the majority of the folks now living on this planet had all that they’d be dancing in the streets. Heating and air conditioning is another subject. Both of these are energy hogs so they require an entirely different approach that at the current state of the art is beyond the average homeowners ability. If cities, counties and states demanded that all homes have solar water heaters and solar panels a whale of a lot of electricity could be generated on site. Expensive? True, but for a century state and local governments have demanded that every home must have electricity, running water and flush toilets. I imagine when those rules were set there were ‘teabaggers’ who complained that ‘government’ had no right to demand such an imposition’. Yeah, the government does have that right so lets move past that. As a nation we’re going to have to set some priorities, priorities that insist on the ‘greatest good for the greatest number’. Burning coal and oil and also wasting electricity on outdoor advertising signs, excessive lighting and mal-insulated buildings can’t continue. Such things as single pane windows are going to have to go as will the will the 150 year old incandescent light bulb…energy hogs in general will have to go. The US will have to move as rapidly as possible to public utilities that produce electric power via solar and wind. Private energy companies who have deals with coal producers simply aren’t going to fold up their coal burning electrical plants on their own. The government is going to have to shut them down. Tax money, instead of paying for a bloated military should be used to build a 21st century electrical grid based on solar and wind to take care of the electric overload that homes and business can’t produce on their own. All other electrical needs can be produced by conventional power as stand by units. Tax breaks and subsidies and direct cash grants could make this happen. We did far more than that in WW2 in less than a years time. Very doable technically…politically, that’s a different story!

I would like to offset my air conditioning bills by purchasing a solar panel setup. I guess the questions that need answered are these:

How much power does a central air unit use? 220 Volts / 8 Amps Sound about right?

How large of a solar array will I need to power this non-stop during peak daylight/sunlight hours?

If your state offers "New Metering" look into installing a grid-tie system. You won’t need to rely on batteries storing the energy your panels produce and if you produce more energy than you consume one month the utility company will actually credit your account for that surplus. I would recommend Global Solar Center as a good starting point (http://www.globalsolarcenter.com/). They will provide you with a free solar quote and inform you of all the incentives you’ll be eligible for, your estimated annual savings, payback period etc… They’ll provide you with all the info you’ll need to make a smart decision. Whether or not the system powers your entire central units consumption, at the end of the day you will be saving on your monthly utility bill. Your location will be a major factor as far as feasibility goes but you should definitely start by visiting that site.

I’ve run out of things to keep me entertained recently and as part of a larger project, I was curious if its possible to ‘McGuyver’ up a solar panel out of common materials?

It works, but just.

http://scitoys.com/scitoys/scitoys/echem/echem2.html

Another:
http://nature-log.blogspot.com/2010/01/how-to-make-flat-panel-solar-cell.html

Wingman

Electrical energy

Are you referring to an Electrical Generating Panel, or a Passive water heating panel?

Edit: Can you explain how you made a ‘home made’ solar panel without understanding how it would be used?

Please provide an example with how many watts and amps it can store or if that even makes sense. Also too does size matter? Or does it depend on how powerful it is? Or both?

If you get a big enough solar panel, or even 2 or 3, depending on your energy consumption, your bill can go down to practically nothing. Better yet, if you make more power than you use, that power gets sold to the city and you could actually get a bill that is giving YOU money.

Can’t tell you any specifics, but there is a project just outside my city I worked on, the whole community has solar panels all over the garage roofs (about 3 or 4 for each house) and an additional panel or 2 on the house itself. These panels power a hot water system that heats the house as well. It’s a really great idea that will save you tonnes of money, and probably make you money. Contact some local HVAC companies to see what they have to say. Consultations are always free!

I’m not sure what’s my roof is made of, could be clay or concrete or decra. But you know this material absorb heat and subsequently travel all the way down into the house, that makes a house hot. Nevertheless, thought of going green, if i replace my roof with solar panel/cell, does it also make my home less hot since it does not absorb heat as much as conventional roof (solar cells are suppose to absorb light, right?)

From a purely theoretical standpoint, the solar energy that your panels convert to electricity can’t make your house hotter.

From a practical standpoint, the solar panels will shade the roof somewhat, especially if they are mounted on some kind of support a couple of inches above the roof plane.

Hard to say how much of an effect this would have.

Hi i am looking to install solar panels for my home but would like to try and do it on my own to save a bit of money…
But I keep reading the term "panel photovoltaic" or "photovoltaic panel" I don’t know what this means, could someone give me some advice.

Hi Tas, A Photovoltaic panel is the individual collector, or cell, electrically connected. They form photovoltaic modules, better known as a solar panel. The photovoltaic panel is arranged in arrays, or many panels fitted together in a grid.

Now I feel smart.. In basic terms panel photovoltaic means solar panel..

I went to this site http://build-your-own-solarpanels.com

It will give you a better understand of solar power works.. Hope this helps

I am very interested in making solar panels in Karachi, Pakistan. But cant figure out where i get solar cells? If there is some DIY methods please tell me.

you do google search and contact the companies which manufactures solar panel..or contact an expert in this field..