As energy costs continue to grow more expensive, off grid living becomes appealing to more and more people. Unplugging from the electric grid and producing all of your own power is now very possible. If you size the system appropriately, you can use solar panels or wind turbines to produce all of your own power. By producing some of your own electricity, you can take at least a small step towards off grid living.

We will discuss solar power first. Solar panels are a great option for supplying power to many homes and can work in all parts of the world, even in remote areas or places with a harsh environment. The only requirement is lots of sunlight and some hardware. For the do-it-yourselfer, the best guide to building a diy solar panel is GreenDIYEnergy Reviews. Solar power systems can be big or small and can even be portable to take in your RV. Solar panels can last more than 20 years if properly cared for. They are tough and require very little maintenance.

A basic system includes some number of solar panels which are wired together. Solar panels in the northern hemisphere should be facing directly south for the highest power output. Some solar power systems use panels that rotate so they always point directly at the sun, though with more recent solar panels this is less important than it was with older panels. With more recent solar panels, stationary panels work quite well as long as they are pointed directly south and at the correct vertical angle. For an article about how to build your own solar panel, check out Build Solar Panels.

Since solar cells produce Direct Current (DC), the electricity produced by solar cells can be used to power any DC appliance or to charge batteries. Electricity can be provided at night or when the sun isn’t shining by charging batteries during the day.

A power inverter can be used to convert the DC electricity from solar panels into the AC electricity that standard appliances around your house require. A power inverter can convert DC electricity coming from either the solar panels or batteries in AC electricity.

Another way to generate power to enable you to live off grid is with a wind turbine. You can mount a modern wind turbine on a pole or tower, or perhaps even on the roof of your home. These modern wind turbines are fairly small and quite efficient. One advantage of a wind turbine over solar panels is they can generate power all day and all night as well. As long as the wind is blowing, a wind turbine can produce electricity. For information about making a diy wind generator, check out Earth 4 Energy Review

You can install both a wind turbine and solar panels together. You can use the same power inverter and batteries with both solar and wind and this setup can give you the best of both worlds. At night the wind turbine can produce power as long as there is a breeze and on calm, sunny days the solar panels can take over and generate electricity.

For people wanting to live the off grid lifestyle, either of these systems can provide enough power. They can allow you to take your first step toward complete off grid living.

Everywhere you turn, from TV or advocacy groups to the Obama administration, people are talking about solar power. Why all this interest in solar energy? There are a few disadvantages, but where are also a lot of advantages that have so many people excited. Overcoming the disadvantages can be accomplished if you have some knowledge and are willing to put in a little work yourself.

Advantages

Never-ending energy source

There is a never-ending supply of solar energy because it is produced by the sun all the time. Every day, all year the sun is producing energy. While solar power will continue to be available as long as the sun keeps shining, there is a limited supply of fossil fuels like oil and natural gas. The price of these limited fossil fuels will continue to increase as more and more are used up. The opposite is true of solar energy! It will never run out and the cost will continue to go down as technology gets better and better.

Free energy

As long as you can look out the window and see the sun shining, solar electricity will continue to be free. The ongoing cost of solar electricity is almost nothing aside from maintenance of the equipment. You can completely disconnect from the power grid if you install enough solar panels. This is called off grid living. Some people intentionally stay connected to the electric grid, are able to generate more power than they use and actually get paid for the extra electricity by the power company!

No greenhouse gasses

For those people worried about global warming, solar energy is the solution! Solar electricity produces absolutely no greenhouse gasses, unlike fossil fuels like oil and natural gas. If you wish to reduce your carbon footprint, solar energy is a great way to do it. There are no emissions of any kind produced by solar power.

Lower dependence on foreign oil

One of the biggest threats to national security is widely considered to be dependence on foreign oil. Dependence on foreign oil is considered by many people to be one of the biggest threats to national security today. Our dependence on foreign oil can be reduced by the use of solar energy. Any power that is currently generated with foreign oil can be directly replaced by domestically produced solar electricity.

Disadvantages

Initial cost

Most people consider initial cost to the be the biggest disadvantages to solar electricity. The initial cost of solar panels can be quite high, while the ongoing costs of solar electricity are very small. If you want to see how much it would cost to install enough solar panels to power your home and get a spreadsheet to do the calculations, please take a look at Solar Panel Cost.

With the required know-how, the initial cost can be reduced a great deal by building solar panels yourself. If you are looking for instructions on how to build your own solar panel, check out Do It Yourself Solar Panel.

Space

Solar panels must be oriented so they point to the south and also need enough space for all the panels. Solar panels work best in areas that get a lot of sun. Solar maps are available that show the average sun in every part of the country. A larger score means that a solar panel of the same size will produce more electricity than a solar panel in an area with a smaller score. If you live in an area with a lower score, it doesn’t necessarily indicate that you can’t use solar electricity, however you will need more solar panels to generate enough electricity for your house.

As you can see, there are advantages and disadvantages to solar energy. The advantages of solar power, though, outweigh the disadvantages. If you build your own solar panel, you can avoid many of the disadvantages. For the best guide to building your own solar panel, take a look at GreenDIYEnergy Review.