how can I inexpensively switch to solar power?

Question

I am trying to switch to solar power in an inexpensive way to do that? even if Ia needed to do a little work.

Answer 1

purchase and much equipment as you can and use those saving to upgrade and buy more panels. also take advantage of government subsidies

Answer 2

A few people have already suggested Solar Hot Water. If you are serious about Solar than this is absolutely the place to start.I've seen all the build your own "Solar Power Plant" for $100. Let's examine this for a second.

1) If you can build a panel for $100 that would power a 4 bedroom house why have we not seen this on national television/ I mean this is the next best thing since sliced bread.

2) The person I'm picking on here(Jason) said he got a great big tax credit.

FACT: The tax credit is 30%, so if you spend $100 you get a $30. tax credit. Big credit huh?

I noticed several of the people that answered are not guiding you to their affiliate link.These are the ones I'd listen to.Roderick makes a lot of sense.I've been installing Solar since 1981 and I won't even buy one of these build your own EBook because I think it's a waste of money.I'm just saying....

I'm not selling anything so here is what I'm suggesting.If you want to go Solar Electric try this.Find an electrician willing to hook up the system for you. Find a company that will sell you the system wholesale. If you tie it into the grid (This means using your existing meter.) you don't have to worry about supplying all the power you need. You can cut your cost a little at a time as you can afford it. Check where you live for any possible rebates or state tax credits.If you don't feel comfortable installing the system yourself you can find an installer willing to moonlight.I hope this helps.

Answer 3

Conservation first, and solar hot water second. But I assume you're asking about solar electricity.



If you're ideally located, there are some companies that will lease you panels so that your out-of-pocket expense is not much. Solarcity is one of them, and Akeena also has a plan with as little as $1000 down, supposedly. But that involves a commitment to buy the electricity from them at a fixed rate for a number of years. Understand that for the first few years, this will actually cost more than the electricity you're buying now, and depending on location, may always cost more.



The conventional way to go solar for electricity is to buy the system outright. It could be a good financial move for the long term, but won't pay off for years. Kind of like planting a Pistachio tree. For many years you get nothing, then it finally starts bearing, and keeps going year after year. If saving money is your chief concern, you need to run the numbers very carefully.



Oh, and beware of scams that say you can power your whole house for a few hundred dollars. From the complaints I've seen, they take your money, give you vague public information that is impractical, and refuse to honor their guarantee, not even answering emails after you've bought. If it were easy and cheap to do, wouldn't we see at least a few houses with homemade solar electric panels in the neighborhood?

Answer 4

The most cost-effective form of solar power is heat, either for hot water or home heating. If you have a pool, solar pool heaters pay off almost immediately. Hot wash water takes a little more money, but programs exist in many areas to subsidize the investment. Check with your utility company, they'll know about the programs. Home heating is a larger investment yet. Upgrading the insulation first gives the most savings for investment in solar home heating.

Do-it-yourself approaches to all of these options can be found by Google search.

Solar electric is about $3.5 a watt for commercial panels at this time. Unless there is a subsidy available (or like me you're miles from the electrical grid) it's the least cost effective way to go solar, with payoff taking over a decade. Do it last.

Answer 5

There is no way to inexpensively switch to solar power. Try not to use as much power and that will be a far better start.



It isn't sexy. It is like sending your old 92 Civic (43 mpg) prematurely to the junk yard and replacing it with a Prius (45 mpg). Everyone would think you're really evolved, but really you've just wasted resources, wasted money and hurt your cause.

Answer 6

Well somtimes it will cose about 1 thousand $ but normally never under that but if you buy 1 solar panel then mount it up on a triangular base ad put about 5 mirrors aiming towards it but make them where they are always in-line with the sun :) might wanna hire somone to do that.





but keep away from the panel you can easily get sunburned because, it is about 5x stronger than the normal suns rays



make 2 or 3 of these and youll be goin-green in no time at all



(the mirrors might cost a bit though



if it is enough power your power meter will run backwards and your power company will buy the electricity from you :)

Answer 7

Yes! I looked far and wide for an answer to this question. I went to trade shows, farmer's market, made ALOT of phone calls. All I ended up with were quotes that were cost prohibitive.



Then I found a site that showed me how to create functional solar panels and where to get the inexpensive parts from. It costs like $50, but it saved me TENS OF THOUSANDS...



I have been using the panels for 8 months now for my entire 4 bedroom home and am very pleased. I got a nice fat tax credit, which was nice.



Its socially responsible to go green, even if you can't afford $90k to have solar panels installed. That is why I am so psyched to post this. I want to let other in on this idea.

Answer 8

They need to mass produce solar panels in order to get the costs down.



Right now they are too expensive so people aren't buying them.



But it's not worth mass producing them if there's no market for them.



Mad!

Answer 9

Short answer: You can't.



Longer one: Any solar panel cheap enough to be called inexpensive by most Americans will be so underpowered, there's not a lot of point in installing it. Conversely, any panel worth installing will not be cheap.

Answer 10

Guide To Solar Power - http://Solar.eudko.com/?REi

Answer 11

buy a solar calculator