New Types of Energy Choices for Your Home

People have been using solar power for homes for a long time, yet there have never been as many techniques to take advantage of it as there are now.

Once you’re eager to make the significant venture in going solar, there are numerous offerings that could get you the biggest bang for your money.

Commonly, a homeowner should expect to pay out $15,000 to $45,000 to mount solar panels on a home. The bigger the home, the more costly.

As you put up solar panels on your home, you are not removing your own home off the electrical grid. On cloudy or overcast days, when your panels aren’t creating optimum electricity, you don’t have to be troubled about your lights going dark. Instead, you’re changing your home into a hybrid-powered home: one that draw on solar energy and then complements the excess with conventional electricity.

On days that you’re in reality overproducing solar electricity, your home becomes a mini-power plant, putting electricity back into the grid. That produces a credit on your utility bill. You may in the long run be making money from the power company.

If this unconventional form of energy interests you, here are a couple of choices for your home:

• Camouflage solar panels for homes:

The problem with installing solar panels on the roof is that they often look unsightly. But Sharp Solar (www.solar.sharpusa.com) modules come in a assortment of rectangular and triangular modules, which means they fit and blend into even multi-faceted roofs. They are designed to be flush with the roof, not jet out of the roof like traditional panels. Installing Sharp solar panels is a two-step process.

First, Sharp does an in-home examination of your present electrical requirements, along with a diagnostics check of your roof’s sun intensity. Sharp also offers a quote that includes federal and state rebates and what your true energy aims are: to be fully powered solar or to just supplement your existing needs.

Sharp furthermore coordinates building permits, inspections and rebate forms and then finally installs everything. If you’re putting up a new home and you’re not set to install solar panels, you can do the next best thing: pre-wire for solar technology. Having pre-existing wiring installed throughout construction will remove the bother of running wires from the rooftop solar panels to your electrical system in the future.

• The Brilliance solar energy system by GE:

The new Brilliance solar energy system lets homeowners buy the three required components of solar energy all in one purchase. Homeowners have the option of choosing systems ranging from 1,000 to 10,000 watts output.

The lower the watt output, the lower the price — but the lower use of solar energy in the home. It all depends on what your requirements and ambitions are.

• Solar tent:

Even when you’re roughing it in the Great Outdoors, you can use the power of the sun to light up your temporary home, your tent. Eureka’s “Solar Intent” ($239.99, www.eurekatent.com) has built-in LED lights and integrated solar panels to power the energy-efficient LED lights. The whole tent is just 16 pounds and can accommodate six people.

• Solar golf cart:

People regularly forget that golf carts are one of the first electric powered modes of transportation ever created. Additionally, many golf carts feature a flat roof ideal for the installation of solar panels. As most golfers are spending bright, sunny days hitting the courses, it makes sense to have a cart that recharges itself in the sun throughout the day using solar energy.

CruiseCar ($6,500, www.cruisecarinc.com is a manufacturer of solar-powered golf carts called SunRay. While the cart itself can be recharged traditionally by plugging it in, it can also be recharged entirely by a rooftop solar panel in as little as three days.