| By :
Nick Messe
Energy costs in America are at an all time high. Natural gas, oil, and electric energy, are all costs that are straining every pocket book in America and people are looking for relief. Solar energy is being promoted as an environmentally friendly way of getting electric energy to run your home. But can you get enough energy from solar panels to do this? First of all, and quite simply, a solar panel on your roof can supply 100 percent of the electric energy needs of your home. With battery backup, this system can deliver uninterrupted electric service to your home. This can happen even during heavy load usage periods in the summer that can lead to blackouts for customers on the regular grid. These periods of uninterrupted electric service can go from days to weeks. In order to have a residential solar panel system in place, you first need to be a homeowner. You cannot place a solar panel grid on a home you are renting. The number of panels that you would need for a solar panel system depends on a number of factors. Your electrical use, the angle of your roof, the climate that you live in, the amount of shade you have, and a number of other factors all come into play. To accurately figure out the size of the solar panel array that you are going to need, you will have to multiply your average daily electrical usage in kilowatt-hours by the number 0.25. What you are left with is the approximate size of your solar array that is figured out in kilowatts. You can even sell some of your electrical energy back to the electric company. This is called net metering and here's how it works. Net metering is the difference in the electricity you buy from the electric company and the electricity generated by your solar panel system. In net metering, the excess energy created by your solar panel system gets delivered back to the electric company. It actually makes your electric meter run backwards. You are selling your generated electricity back to the electric company. The most exciting new trend in the high demand area of solar energy is a new type of panel called a printable panel. These are panels that are based on inkjet printing techniques. This process is designed to dramatically reduce the cost of production. The most interesting thing about the printable panels is that they are coated or printed directly on the surface that will be exposed to direct sunlight. Another exciting trend in solar panels is coming from Japan. The Japanese have developed a solar panel that is extremely thin. They are so thin that they are also being tested for use in clothing. Solar panels are a cost effective and environmentally friendly way of creating the energy needed to run your home. So cost effective, in some areas you can actually sell your excess energy back to the electric company.
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