Build A Vertical Axis Wind Turbine
Today we have an announcement from the guys from Green Power Easy. Coming this month to their guides is a new instructional book that teaches you how to build a vertical axis wind turbine. Since no other DIY guide to solar and wind power currently includes this instruction, those looking to take advantage of wind power won’t want to miss out.
From what we were told, the new book will be made freely available to all current Green Power Easy members later in April. In other words if you haven’t yet signed up as a member of the #1 guide to solar and wind energy, you’re going to want to.
Green Power Easy already had the best instruction for DIY solar and wind power. You can use this link to get started with Green Power Easy:
Join Green Power Easy Now To Get The New VAWT Guide When It Becomes Available.
And, you can read on to learn more about vertical axis wind turbines.
What Is A Vertical Axis Wind Turbine?
As the name suggests a vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT for short) is a wind turbine, but with vertical blades. There are a couple of major advantages to this type of turbine for energy production at home.
1. A vertical axis wind turbine is can be build to capture wind power in more areas. With a regular wind turbine, you need to live in an area where average wind speeds exceed 15mph. With a VAWT, lower wind speeds are more suitable.
2. You have more versatility in where you mount a VAWT. Obviously it still needs wind to produce power, but unlike a regular turbine that works best when put way up in the air to capture more wind, a vertical axis turbine can work even at ground level.
What Will The New Guide Cover?
We were given a sneak preview of this guide (it will be added to our video reviews soon) and it covers – well vertical axis wind turbines and how to build one to power your home.
There are three separate blade designs given in this new eBook, and it covers building the turbines to fit your area (specifically to fit your wind speeds). With this new element added into the Green Power Easy guides, there is now no question that they have the best DIY instruction for wind power as well as for solar power.
You Can Use This Link To Join Green Power Easy Today!
Wind Power Guide – Which Guide To Wind Power Is The Best?
After receiving an email from someone interested in wind turbines instead of solar panels, I decided to answer the question: Which Wind Power Guide is the Best?
The answer is actually quite simple. The same guides that we recommend for solar power are also the ones we recommend for wind power. Both Green Power Easy and Earth 4 Energy are guides to “green power” not just solar power, and if you watch the video below you’ll see why these are the best guides to learn how to build wind turbines.
What it really comes down to when choosing a guide to alternative energy is content. Green Power Easy and Earth 4 Energy both contain a lot of content. They provide clear instruction on solar energy, on wind energy, and in the case of Green Power Easy they even include a supplementary ebook to help you size your alternative energy solution.
As with any DIY project, building your wind turbines well starts with the proper instruction. My suggestion is that you download your copy of one of the top two guides. Once you have your copy, creating your alternative energy solution will be a cinch!
Download Your Copy of Green Power Easy Here
Or
Download Your Copy of Earth 4 Energy Here
DIY Solar Power – The Secret to DIY Solar Panels
Whether your intention is to supplement your current power system or to convert your entire home, DIY solar panels are an excellent way to start. Considering that buying solar panels is quite pricey (the average cost of a solar panel is $1150 according to Science Daily), homeowners stand to save a lot of money by choosing the do it yourself route to solar power. The process of building a solar panel can be learned by anyone, and it really isn’t that difficult.
Of course, as with any DIY project, the key to success in building your solar panels is to begin with the right instruction. There are many do-it-yourself guides out there that claim to teach this topic. It’s choosing the best one that will help you to ensure that you get your solar power projects completed right – the first time.
Watch the video below to learn more about DIY Solar Panels, and to learn more about the top 2 guides to learn how you can build your own solar panels.
Get the Green Power Easy Guides (and Videos) Now – Click Here
As stated before, choosing to build your own solar panels is an excellent way to take advantage of renewable energy. With DIY solar you’ll save thousands over the cost of buying your panels, and you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing the power to your home for the next 35 years is coming from solar panels that you built yourself!
By choosing to get the right instruction, before you begin your solar energy projects, you will ensure that your solar panels last for years to come, and you’ll make the most of the time and money you invest now.
Get the Green Power Easy Guides (and Videos) Now – Click Here
Or,
Click the links at the top of this blog to learn more about the other guides in the top five.
You can also read our top 5 DIY Solar Guide reviews on this page.
Solar Panels For Home Use – Build Them or Buy Them?
When it comes to getting solar panels for home use, it’s fair to say that there are many choices. We could talk about Kyocera solar panels, GE panels or Evergreen solar. It’s my admonition that your main choice shouldn’t be between solar panel brands though; it should be whether or not you want to save money by building them yourself.
With the right instruction, anyone can build a solar panel, and building solar panels for your home will save you thousands over the cost of buying them. To clarify this, let’s compare buying solar panels to building them yourself.
Building Solar Panels for Home Use will Save You Money
Buy Solar Panels For Home Use
To begin with let’s talk about buying solar panels. In 2009, the average cost of solar panels did actually fall a bit, but it’s still not enough.
According to Science Daily, the average cost per watt for solar panels installed ranged between $7.60 and $10.60 (depending on where you live). So for a 100 Watt solar panel you should expect to pay $760 – $1060 per panel. Considering that just 3 years prior the same panel was $1200 +, this is a step in the right direction, but we can still install a solar power system for a lot less.
Build Solar Panels For Home Use
Now let’s talk about building solar panels. If you choose the DIY yourself method to install your solar panels for home use, you can go green while saving green!
The average cost of a homemade solar panel is $1.25 – $2.50 per watt. To put this into perspective, instead of paying $1060 per panel (on the high end) you can expect to pay $250 or less (also on the high end). That’s a savings of over $800 per panel.
In this case it isn’t the brand you choose that varies the cost, but the parts themselves. Solar cells will cost you about $0.95 per watt, and then you have some choices to put the rest of the panel together. You could build a cheap solar panel for $125 – $150. Or you could use higher end backer boards and covers and spend $250 per panel.
Now here’s the best part. Building a solar panel isn’t difficult at all. Starting with the right instruction, most people can build a complete solar panel in less than an hour. In other words by simply putting in an hour of time you save yourself $800. For each panel you build, you’ll repeat this.
Solar Panels For Home Compared – Building to Buying
It’s when we talk about an entire solar energy system for your home that the advantage to building solar panels for home really becomes clear. If you decided to convert your whole home to solar energy (you don’t have to do this by the way, you could just install a few panels to reduce your energy bill) you might need 12 panels, maybe 15, or even 20. In this case you’d have to calculate your own energy need.
Let’s just assume for a moment that you needed 12. If you purchased those panels at $1000 per piece, that’s 12 x $1000 = $12,000 you would be spending on the solar panels. If you chose to build those solar panels instead, even if we calculate this on the high-end, you would be paying $250 x 12 = $3000. In other words you saved $9,000.
As long as you use an ISO certified DC converter, that homemade solar energy system can still be tied into the grid, and as such it still qualifies for the government rebates on green power. So you can still reduce that $3,000 by an additional 40% – 60% (depends on your state).
To sum it up, you can build solar panels for home use and save money. In fact, with the right instructional material, anyone can do it. To get you started, I recommend the #1 DIY Solar Guide (Green Power Easy), or the #2 DIY Solar Guide (Earth 4 Energy).
DIY Solar Energy, 10 Tips
So you’ve decided to take advantage of solar energy. More importantly you’ve decided to take advantage of DIY solar energy to save yourself some money over the cost of building solar panels. First, let me say – congratulations. You’re about to take advantage of renewable energy, reduce or eliminate your power bill, and along the way you’ll be making our world a little greener place for the rest of us.
Now that you decided on DIY solar energy as the solution to your energy needs, I want to help you get the right start. For that reason I’ve assembled this 10 tips guide to help you do just that.
DIY Solar Energy – An Overview
Before we get to the tips, let’s first cover one thing. If you’re just beginning to research the topic of DIY solar energy one thing you should know is that you can take advantage of solar power for your home. The time and cost involved to build your own solar panels is minimal, and when you compare it to buying solar panels it can save you as much as 90% on your solar power installation.
Most importantly though it’s quite simple to build solar energy. Even if you’ve never considered building a solar panel, most people can accomplish the task in less than an hour (obviously after they get the parts they need. With that out of the way, let’s move on to 10 tips to DIY Solar energy.
DIY Solar Energy – 10 Tips Video Version
DIY Solar Energy – 10 Tips To Get It Right
These simple tips are intended to help you get the right start with your diy solar energy projects. None of these are difficult, but all of them will help to ensure that the solar power system you build lasts for years to come.
- Start with the right instruction – The first thing that is important to note here is that you should start with the right instruction. At the top of this blog there are links to video reviews of the top five guides to DIY solar power. These will help you get the right start. Your solar power system will be used to power your home, so spend the $40 on a good guide to get you started. Your system will be safer, and the task of building solar power will be much easier.
- Don’t buy broken solar cells – Some people suggest using broken solar cells to build their panels. This might be acceptable for a panel to power your camper, or the one you keep with your tent, but it isn’t suitable for home power. If you want to save money on solar cells (they aren’t really that expensive to begin with) you can buy pre-tabbed grade b cells. For most though, grade a solar cells aren’t really that pricey.
- Use a good backer material – Don’t cheap out on the backer board for your panel. This is the most difficult component to replace. At the very least use good grade plywood and make sure you seal it well. Even better would be a plastic or aluminum (make sure you insulated this from the cells) backing material. The life expectancy of a solar panel is 25 – 35 years. Choosing a backer that will last as long will help to ensure you make the most of your investment.
- Read the Instructions and Watch the Videos First – Going back to step 1, you purchased the best instructional material – use it! Before trying to build your first solar panel read the books and watch the videos that come with that material. This will help you source the parts for less, know the exact steps to take as you build solar panels for your home, and in general you’ll do a better job. DIY solar energy isn’t complicated, but knowing what to do ahead of time will help.
- Use an ISO Certified Inverter/Controller – If you are converting your whole home, with parts like your inverter and charge controller, yes you could build them yourself. However, you probably shouldn’t. These components are not expensive and at this point in your system we’re beginning to deal with larger voltages.
- Use ISO Certified Breakers and Switches – The same thing goes for switches and breakers that you use in your DC power system. Do not use radio shack switches, get ISO certified breakers if you need them for the way your system is designed. Again these components are cheap, and an ISO certified breaker is safe for the purpose, where as that radio shack switch may not be.
- Use Junction Boxes to Connect Your Panels – When you’re wiring your solar panels together, be sure to use weatherproof junction boxes. You don’t want open wiring connections on the roof.
- Have an Electrician Do The Final Wiring – Once you’ve wired up your solar panels, have an Electrician do the final wiring into your home. This is really important if you’re wiring into a home that is already tied to the grid. This will probably cost you less than $80, and considering that power coming from the grid is coming in at 240V, this is a dangerous job to do yourself.
- Keep Your System Charged (if using batteries) – If your diy solar energy system includes batteries for power storage, make sure you keep it charged. Keeping your batteries charged between 50% – 80% charge continually will greatly extend the life of the batteries themselves. In other words, if you do plan to store power (this isn’t really necessary if you’re tied to the grid anyway), be sure to buy enough batteries so that you can keep the system above 50% charge.
- Check it Periodically – Finally, once a year, check your panels. Just do a visual inspection. If you see a panel where the backer need to be repainted, do it. After 4 – 6 years if you see some yellowing on the clear cover for your panels, replace it. Keeping your solar panels in top condition will ensure you make the most of it for many years to come!
With 10 tips to DIY Solar Energy, you now have the information you need to get it done the right way. Of course the first step was to get the right instruction, use this link – Top 5 DIY Solar Energy Guides – or watch the video reviews from the top of this blog to get started.
Solar Power for Your Home with DIY Solar Panels
When it comes to converting to solar power, and in particular when you plan to do it with DIY solar panels, I am sometimes asked if there are special considerations when performing a whole-home conversion. The answer is yes. If you plan to convert your home using diy solar electric panels, then there are a few things to discuss.
First, converting to solar power, special considerations before you make the conversion. A single solar panel may be built for $100-$150 or less. But, when converting an entire home, the project will likely end up costing a few thousand or more.
Of course a $3,000 home conversion is 1/10 of the cost of having a professional solar panel installer design and install your system, so that price isn’t bad. For many the costs will be recovered in the first year and the solar panels you build have a life expectancy of 30 years or more. If you take advantage of some of the government rebates that the top diy solar panel guides recommend, you can reduce that cost by half.
When taking on a project of this size through there are still a few considerations to make beforehand. Considering the details, When converting to solar power for your home, will help ensure your diy solar panels last for years to come.
It should be noted before we get started that many people (when taking on a DIY Solar Power project) usually decide to begin by first working to reduce their energy bill.
They start by building a few solar panels, and they don’t actually convert to solar power until later on. Over time they add to their system and with $100 – $200 put in each month they can finish converting to solar power over time. By working this way the cost of converting to solar power is spread out over a period of 6 month to a year and their isn’t a large outlay of cash required ahead of time.
Even if you choose this route to convert your home, there are still considerations to make ahead of time. Specifically there are two areas that need to be considered. We need to talk about energy needs, and the solar panels that you decide to build.
Solar Power for Your Home – Considering Energy Needs
Before you decide to convert your entire home to solar power you should first look at your energy requirements. There are simple things you can do to reduce your electricity needs beforehand that will reduce the overall cost of your solar energy solution.
Things like switching to LCD lighting, replacing old appliances, and adding a solar water heating system to your current electric hot water heater, will greatly reduce the amount of power you need. When you begin to look closely at your home many people can reduce their energy needs by 50% or more and it doesn’t have to cost a lot.
If you need help in this area, the top DIY guide to Solar and Wind Power, lays out the steps needed here quite well.
Solar Power For Your Home – The DIY Solar Panels
The next thing you need to consider is the solar panels than you build. The life expectancy of a solar cell is 30 – 40 years. Because of this you are going to want to choose materials that will allow you to build panels that will last just as long.
Instead of using painted plywood for a backing for your solar panels, consider using aluminum sheeting or exterior grade plywood. And, instead of framing your panel with 1 x 2, consider using square aluminum tubing. Simple ideas like this will reduce the amount of maintenance needed and extend the life of your solar energy system.
Building solar panels that will stand the test of time is particularly important when converting to solar power for your entire home. You won’t be doing yourself any favors by using cheaper materials and ending up having to rebuild the panels 5 years down the road.
The reality is that converting to solar power is easy. If you’re converting an entire home though, taking the time to consider the finer elements will help you make the most of your conversion. If you need help with any of this, one of the top DIY solar power guides can be a big help.
If You’d Like to Learn More About DIY Solar Panels, use the links at the top of this site to get video reviews of the top 4 guides to solar power. These are the guides that we found provided the best instruction on how to build solar panels the diy way!
Why DIY Solar Panels
One of the reasons I take the time to run this site is that I want to let the world know just how easy it is to take advantage of solar power. For more than a decade solar or wind power have been an option for homeowners, the problem is that professional conversions cost a lot of money.
In fact, if you had a professional convert your home to solar power, you could expect to pay close to $30,000, $40,000 or more. And, it would take you more than 15 years to recover those costs. The thing most people don’t realize is that they could convert their own home to solar power by simply building the solar panels themselves.
So let’s get started with why you should consider a do-it-yourself solar power conversion. The topic isn’t really complicated. With some simple instructions (and a little time) someone who has never even seen a solar panel or can build one.
Why DIY Solar Panels
When we start to talk about why diy solar? The answer is easy. Building solar panels is simple! It isn’t like it was 10 year ago when solar cells were everybody’s big secret, they are readily available, and can be shipped right to your door in a couple of days.
A complete solar panel can be built by anyone and the project itself usually takes about an hour. By building your solar panels instead of buying them you can reduce the costs of converting your home and enable yourself to live off the grid.
Building a solar panel yourself will also save you money. According to Science Daily the average cost of a 100 Watt solar panel is $870 to $1060 (depends on the state you live in). By choosing to build solar panels yourself that cost is reduced to as little $0.50 – $1.50 per watt ($50 – $150 per panel depending on the solar cells you choose).
When you account for government rebates that are available when you convert your home the cost of your DIY solar panels can be reduced by an additional 75% (again this depends on your state). In other words the cost then becomes $12.50 to $37.50 per panel. Suddenly converting to solar power becomes affordable for anyone.
Just a single solar panel can reduce your energy bill. But at a cost of $37.50 per panel or less it suddenly becomes feasible to not only reduce your energy but to convert your whole home and eliminate your power bill. You can build your own solar panel in about an hour, and that panel will continue to product power for 35 – 40 years.
DIY Solar Panel Guides
The easiest way to learn the topic of diy solar panels is by simply choosing the right instruction. A good instructional guide/video series will cost you around $40, and it really will give you the best start in ensuring you build solar panels that last for years to come. If you click the links along the top of this blog (or the ones below), you’ll find video reviews of the top four guides to teach you how to build solar panels.
In the videos, you can view exactly what you get for the cost of the guide, and you’ll get a better overview of which each instructional series covers.
- #1 Guide – Green Power Easy Review
- #2 Guide – Earth 4 Energy Review
- #3 Guide – HomeMade Energy Review
- #4 Guide – Energy 2 Green Review
So to answer the original question, Why DIY Solar Panels? The answer is simple – it will save you a pile of money and building your own solar panels is much easier than you think.
Facing Solar Panels
When it comes to solar energy, it’s no surprise that the technology is growing. In fact, according to the US Department of Energy, shipments of photovoltaic cells (used to create solar panels) increased over 6000% between 1997 and 2007. This is due in part to more manufacturers building solar panels, but that growth is also increasing with people just like you and I deciding to create their own solar energy solutions.
In this article we want to take your knowledge a little further. It’s great that you’ve decided to do your part in saving our planet, and very soon you will be on your way to saving money as well. One area where some people need help though is with making the most out of their home solar energy solution.
For most, making the most out of each solar panel they install is as simple as ensuring they are installed the right way, and faced to collect the most energy year-round.
Facing Solar Panels to Produce the Most Energy
The direction to face your solar panels isn’t difficult to determine. If you’re in the northern hemisphere then you want your panels to face south. If you’re in the southern hemisphere you want your panels to face north. This simple idea will ensure that your panels collect solar energy as the sun makes its way from east to west.
This isn’t the only thing to be considered when deciding where to install your panels though. You also need to consider the tilt of your panels. Your new solar panels will produce the most energy when they the sun is hitting them at a 90 degree angle. To make the most out of your solar panels you need to tilt them so that they collect sunlight at 90 degrees for as much of the days as possible.
Tilting Your Solar Panels to a 90% Angle to the Sun Will Ensure You Make the Most of Your Solar Panels
Again there is a simple way to do this. If you take your latitude, you have the ideal angle for your panels. If you are building the panels so that you will be able to adjust the tilt, remember to add 15 degrees in the summer and subtract 15 degrees in the winter.
To add some clarity here let’s use a quick example.
If you lived in Miami (approximately 25 degree north latitude) you would want to face your panels south with a tilt of 25 degrees. If you wanted to make the most out of the sun throughout the year, you would also want the ability to tilt the panels by 15 degrees in the summer and 15 degrees the other way in the winter.
On the other hand if you lived in the middle of Montana, you would want to start with a 46 degree tilt to your panels.
As a final note here: If you are mounting your panels so that they will be stationary, you’re likely better off adjusting the tilt for Winter. This tends to be the time of year that the least amount of energy is collected, and tilting them specifically for that season will ensure that your system collects as much in the colder months as it did in the summer.
How to Build Solar Panels
Okay, so the other day when we talked about how to build solar panels we gave you a complete parts list. Today it’s time to talk about the steps needed to actually build the solar panel.
As a side note, for those who are unfamiliar with alternative energy, I highly recommend that you read one of the top guides to building solar panels and wind turbines before taking on a project of this sort. The information included in a guide like Green Power Easy will make the project go much smoother since you’ll have a complete 137 page guide, and step-by-step video instruction, on how to build solar panels instead of just basic instruction included here.
Assuming you have your parts, and you’re ready to get started, here’s a basic rundown of what you need to do.
- Cut your plywood to size to fit your finished solar cells, this is easy to calculate using a single cell size, and then determining how much space you’ll need once you have them all wire together. Be sure to leave room for the frame and a little for wiring.
- Build a frame around the plywood. This will be used to keep the Plexiglas above the solar cells to seal up the unit and protect them.
- Using your soldering iron, tab each solar cell. This is as simple as cutting two tabbing wires to double the length of one cell and then soldering them down. Most tabbing wire is pre-soldered so you probably won’t need extra solder at this point.
- Connect the tabbed solar cells together in a series (+ to -). If you were using 50 cells you would probably create 5 series of 10 cells and your finished panel will be somewhere around 34” x 34”.
- Place the complete series into your solar panel and then wire them together using the bus wire. Connect two wires to the end bus wires and run them out of the completed panel.
- Seal everything up by placing your Plexiglas covering over top and attaching it
Image Courtesy of Green Power Easy. Taken from their instructional video series – Building Solar Panels – Only available from Green Power Easy TV (Free When You Purchase Their Guides)
Get Green Power Easy TV for yourself.
For most, even those who have never attempted to build a solar panel before, the job will take 1 to 2 hours. It’s my suggestion that before you start you get a real DIY guide that includes the step by step instructions on how to build a solar panel. With the right instruction, building a solar panel is so easy, anyone could do it!