When thinking of solar power in the home, many people think of expensive solar panels and quickly shrug off the idea. The truth is that there are many ways to harvest the power of the sun for little or no money, reducing environmental impact and saving significantly on energy usage and costs. While solar panels and off-grid living should be an eventual goal for all people, the use of these simple solar energy tips is an excellent way to reduce costs in both the short and long term.
One thing that many homeowners do not consider is opening the curtains during the day. On sides of the house that are facing the sun, this produces enough light to adequately illuminate most rooms, eliminating the need to use electricity to light them. When windows are properly insulated, opening the blinds in winter months also allows heat to come in from the sunlight without letting in cold drafts. The simple act of opening the blinds can provide significant savings on heat and light usage, reducing energy bills as well as your carbon footprint. An excellent idea for homeowners is to install skylights onto the roof of the home, which do not affect privacy but can allow in enough light during daytime hours to eliminate the need for electric lights in all rooms where a skylight is installed.
For people who use outdoor pools or Jacuzzis, converting the systems used to heat the water from electricity to solar panels can also result in significant savings. All outdoor lights can be inexpensively replaced with lights that absorb sunlight during the day and glow at night, giving off equivalent light to an electric light but with no energy cost whatsoever. These simple alternatives can greatly decrease your dependence on electricity.
The last method of utilizing solar power at home is to purchase and use a solar hot water heater. While the costs of some systems are rather pricey, there are inexpensive systems as well as ways to upgrade your current water heater to utilize solar power rather that fuel or electricity. When considering that heating water accounts for a significant portion of the electricity used in any home, the savings to be gained from installing a solar water heater are immediately apparent. From washing dishes and laundry to bathing and showering, we utilize hot water in large amounts. Hot water heaters work almost constantly in order to maintain a specific amount of hot water, meaning that we are heating the water even when we are not using it. By heating the water using solar power, we stop the waste of fossil fuel and electricity that accompanies this process.
Altogether, there are a number of ways to utilize solar energy at little to no cost. These methods are quite easy to employ and have significant impact on both the environment and finances. With the state of both the environment and the global economy, there has never been a better time to implement such methods to reduce our dependence on the fossil fuels that are in many ways at the center of our economic turbulence.
Renewable Energy Today is devoted to providing individuals with up-to-date information and resources on renewable energy and sustainability. Through articles, videos and other content, you can learn how to implement renewable energy in your home as well as what the government is doing to help the environment.
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