The expansion of solar power on a home by home basis has greatly expanded the styles of power and power monitoring available. New solar systems efficiently convert sunlight into a commodity you can sell back to your electric company. These systems can also now let you know multiple times each day where energy inefficiencies occur in your home and how to best address them.
More Than Just Electricity
New solar power systems and installation professionals offer more than just solar panels. Many solar companies also work to increase the efficiency of your home to reduce the amount of power you need. For example, some companies provide insulation monitoring and a review of window efficiencies to reduce air gaps and heat build-up from poorly fitting or inefficient windows.
Exponential Technological Improvements In Energy Capture and Transfer
There are terrific technological improvements underway to make solar power
1) more efficient to use, by incorporating solar inverters into each panel where it connects to your house, and
2) more efficient to harvest in the first place. This is done by improvements in the conversion rate of sunlight to energy.
Solar panels function by converting sunlight into direct current, or DC. Your home needs alternating current, or AC. Older solar technology routed DC through one solar inverter before feeding it into your home’s power system. This resulted in a loss of energy, because power would be lost at each junction as the direct current was routed from panel to panel. Inverting the power from DC to AC at each panel hookup greatly improves efficiency.
Adjustable Panels for More Efficiency
It’s possible to add adjustable supports for free-standing solar panels. While most panels on your home are fixed, with adjustable supports you can alter the angle of the panels to capture the most sunlight no matter the season.
The mechanisms for adjusting the panels will add to the expense at the beginning of the project. Additionally, as would be expected, adjustable panels mounts need more maintenance than fixed mounts. However, adjustable solar panel mounts mean that the panels can be adjusted for maximum capture every day of the year. While the initial investment may be larger, the long-term capture rate would be much higher on a day to day basis.
Solar Power Can Work for Houses That Roll
Adding solar panels to an RV can give travelers great freedom. Depending on your needs and your desire to go to far-flung places, adding solar panels to the top of your RV or carrying a portable set up you can lay out once you’re stopped means you don’t need to find a campground to have power. As panel efficiencies and electrical transfer efficiencies continue to improve, solar powered RV travel becomes more and more cost effective.
Durable and Easier to Install
Solar panels themselves are quite fragile. However, they’re mounted to steel and glass frames that are extremely durable, and most are rated to withstand gold ball sized golf ball sized hail. They’re not a protective measure, however. If you house is subjected to a storm that’s going to put your roof at risk, your solar panels may be damaged as well.
Contact your insurance agent before making an investment in solar to confirm that your new power source will be covered in the event of a catastrophic weather even.
A Final Thought
Investing in a solar power system will increase your resale options. Buying the system outright will provide a bigger financial boost to your asking price, but leasing a system will lead to more views by prospective buyers. Solar panels will get your house the attention it will take to sell.