Things to consider when selecting solar lighting. Before deciding to use solar power for any function, you may want to consider the intrinsic advantages and disadvantages of relying on the sun for power. Whether you choose solar powered lighting for outdoor areas or you choose traditional lighting methods, it’s vital to consider the good and bad of each method.

The Good Qualites Of Solar Powered Outdoor Lighting

Dependability
When you use solar powered lighting for non crucial applications like outdoor house lighting, you are able to set up the lights and forget about them. They can do their job for years without any need for maintenance.

Continuing Lighting Cost
When using solar powered outdoor lighting for non critical applications like landscape or outdoor lighting, you can often set it up and forget about it. With the suns rays being completely free, the long term cost of your landscape lighting amounts to the initial cost of the lights. This is a huge advantage, where using solar lighting instead of electrical lighting to light up your landscape and outdoor areas can in time save hundreds or even thousands of dollars over the course of years.

Setup
If all you mean to do is light your pathways, dark corners or driveway, then solar lighting is a excellent choice, as you’ll be able to set the lights into the ground very easily, without any difficult, messy or potentially dangerous electrical hookups.

Solar Powered Outdoor Lighting Maintenance
There is measly upkeep needed for solar powered outdoor lighting other than wiping off the solar panels from time to time, as they should last years before you need to repair or replace them.

The Bad

The Initial Cost Of Solar Powered Outdoor Lighting
As with all types of solar powered equipment, the initial cost for solar powered outdoor lighting is usually higher than with standard electric outdoor lights. If you have a large yard, long driveway, long pathways or want to light up all your trees at night, then the preliminary cost of solar powered lighting may add up to quite a lot depending on the type and quality of the lighting.

Solar Lighting Reliability
While the need for upkeep is cut down noticeably by using solar powered outdoor lighting, there is also another side to the reliability issue. Since You are using a power source that is only available for little more than 12 hours a day on average. When you factor in rainy, foggy, snowy or stormy days will allow the lights to collect very little energy for lighting at night. In the case of weather inhibiting energy storage, some solar lighting kits have a built in back up battery or use electricity as a backup power source. However, in the case of lights that have no backup battery or power, you may find that on winter days, they can only light up for a small number of hours a night.

Conventional or low voltage lighting may cost less to purchase but will be much more harder to set up and keep up. Deciding whether to use outdoor lighting can require a considerable amount of planning.

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by Anna Stone
Solar Battery Chargers

While solar battery chargers have existed for decades, it is only in the past few years that their popularity seriously increased. In part, this is because of advancements in technology. It is also a result of our increased awareness of our need to shift to cleaner energy sources.

Advancements in technology have reduced the sizes and weights of solar panels, while increasing their efficiency. This makes it possible for small lightweight portable solar chargers to be produced. Another factor which plays a part in the rapidly expanding field of portable solar power, is the increased amount of electronic gadgets that we carry around.

Twenty years ago, not many people were walking around with cell phones. Today, most of us carry at least a cell phone, iPod or MP3 player, and a digital camera around with us – either on a daily basis, or during weekends and vacations.

With all these electronic gadgets comes the need for electricity and power. And, thus portable solar chargers have found their niche.

There are several advantages to solar chargers and portable solar panels. First of all, they are eco/environment-friendly. They don’t produce harmful waste, and can be used anytime and anywhere that there is daylight.

Many people think that solar chargers can only be used in warm sunny areas. This is not necessarily true. Solar panels are more effective in colder temperatures. In fact, a solar panel or charger would create more electricity on a clear day in Alaska, than it would in the sun of the Arizona dessert. This is because the temperature of the solar panel influences the effectiveness with which it can convert solar energy into electrical energy.

The above fact, combined with the increased effectiveness of solar panels, has made solar chargers an attractive method of powering or recharging small electronic gadgets.

These days, a small solar battery charger can run your iPod, cell phone, or MP3 Player. It can recharge your digital camera and it can be used to recharge batteries.

Some solar chargers, such as the Solio Charger, even come with internal batteries which are automatically charged when the solar charger is exposed to daylight – allowing you to recharge your cell phone or other electronic device from the solar charger, later on. Solar chargers with built-in batteries usually store sufficient power to recharge your cell phone twice, or to run an MP3 player or iPod for several hours. Your digital camera can also be fully recharged by one of these devices.

Solar chargers are starting to be a part of many standard emergency kits. They are a reliable source of power so long as there is daylight available.

Solar chargers are a convenient source of power in remote areas, on field trips, or when out hiking and camping. They can recharge batteries, cell phones, or other gadgets in any location.

In addition to being convenient, solar chargers are a clean energy source and do not cause pollution or other harmful emissions while creating electricity. They also reduce the need for disposable batteries, and thus reduce the overall volume of harmful chemicals and toxic waste in circulation on the planet.

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Anna Stone supports green energy and a cleaner environment. For more information see Solar Energy and Alternative Energy.

Popularity: 45% [?]

Solar Energy Solutions For Your Home

If you’d like to save money on your fuel bills at the same time as doing something to help the environment, switching your home over to solar energy may be the solution. But how should you go about it? Aren’t solar panels expensive and difficult to install? What if you live in a rented property? What if you live somewhere where the sky is always grey?

The good news is that, with the range of available products continually expanding, there are now solar energy solutions suitable for almost everybody. The cost of using solar energy has dropped considerably as devices which used to be a specialist concern have gone into mass production. With a seismic shift in public attitudes toward solar energy, everything is changing. Big business is aware of the demand for solar energy options by people like you.

Government solar energy initiatives are also helping. If you own your own home, you may be able to get a grant or loan to install solar panels and reduce your carbon footprint. Some jurisdictions will allow you to write off the cost of installing solar energy devices against tax. Installing these devices is much easier than it used to be, with easy home kits available, so in most cases you should be able to do it yourself.

If you live in a rented home, you can alert your landlord to the financial incentives available for installing solar energy devices. Alternatively, you can obtain lightweight solar panels which are designed to be fixed to roofs on a temporary basis. You can even get solar panels which you can attach to windowsills so that they hang beneath your apartment windows generating solar energy for your use.

The improved efficiency of modern solar energy devices means that they can now be effective even in cloudy environments where direct sunlight is rarely available. Solar energy has become so easy to access that it’s mazing more people don’t realize how they can take advantage of this great source of free power. Get ahead of the rush and convert your home to solar energy now. You’ll be doing the planet a favor – and you’ll be doing yourself a favor, too.

By: Sunny Ray Vaughn

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Sunny Ray is a staff writer for Sunjuiced Solar Products. Sunny authors exclusive articles about solar power and solar products for Sunjuiced.Com. Learn more about the new energy saving solar products and technologies by visiting Sunjuiced.Com. Sunjuiced Solar is a resource for all things solar, from solar lighting to portable power options.

Popularity: 36% [?]

What To Consider When Getting Solar Panels For Your Home

A new home, or an existing home for that matter, needs planning for installation of solar panels. Going about this project without the proper planning will render your efforts useless. The whole purpose of doing this in the first place is to save money on your electric bill. So plan ahead.

When everything gets configured with the new home, the homeowner will determine how may solar panels they will need. There are two ways that solar powered panels can be selected: there are those that provide power to all of the needs of the home; The other is connected to an existing power grid.

The homeowner may or may not have to size up the power with a separate system. If they plant to connect to the power grid in their area, then sizing won’t be needed. Use what you have in your budget and do the installation accordingly.

The electric company will provide the needed power when the solar power system cannot. The homeowner should check to make sure that additional components can be installed later on if they want it. Also, they should also see about getting the grid tied into their area.

This alternative energy system can be installed in different places:

– Roof

– Ground area

– Posts

If it is to be installed on the roof, the homeowner needs to make sure that the roof is strong enough to hold a solar panel.

These panels can be heavy. Also, the roof should face the sun for most of the day, if not all day. The more sun exposure the roof gets, the more energy your home will receive. There can’t be any obstacles like trees and buildings.

There are different providers that make solar panels. Homeowners can search online to see the different distributors that specialize in the sale of these panels. Or, a store such as home depot could be an option. Before a homeowner has settled on an installer, they need to get at least three quotes before they make a decision.

They should also make sure to check their references. Look out for someone that says to be something they are not. If they’re not sure about who to contact, one thing they can do is to see if any of their neighbors have solar panels. Check to see who the installers were that they used. Be sure to inquire regarding the quality of the install and the quality of the service.

This alternative energy source that is added to your home can also be used for outside ponds and fountains. The homeowner won’t have to concern themselves with having wires strung all over the place.

The homeowner can qualify for rebates from the government if they have energy efficient appliances. This is another incentive. They can check online to get more information on this program and similar ones.

In the long run, homeowners may end up paying a lot of money for their appliances, but in the long run, will benefit from doing so for many years to come.

By: William Rigby

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William Rigby is a proponent of saving our planet by using non-polluting energy resources. To find out more information on how you too can help save the planet starting for under 200.00. www.windandsolarpowerforhomes.com

Popularity: 31% [?]