Live Well – Live Green!

July 13, 2010 | By In living green | Comments(0)

There have been so many advances in green energy technology, it is now easier than ever to start changing your home to run on clean, alternative power.

There are many ways to implement your plan to convert your home from being totally fossil fuel dependent to making use of renewable energy sources.

Solar Energy – You can have installed solar hot water panels to heat your water. And you can install solar panels which use photovoltaic cells to convert sunlight into electricity. These systems can be expensive if purchasing them and having them installed professionally, but there are many good resources available so you can make your own solar panels and solar hot water system, which will reduce the expense by many thousands of dollars.

Passive Solar Design – If you are building a new home, a really good way to make it energy efficient and so cut your power bills, is to implement passive solar design principles during your house’s construction. This means having large areas of windows on the south side (in the northern hemisphere – the north side in the southern hemisphere) of your home. You should also have heat-retaining brick, stone, or concrete in your south-facing rooms to store the heat during the day; as the outside temperature drops at evening, the heat from the thermal mass will warm the air in the room, thereby reducing your heating requirements.

Windmills – Another way to take advantage of renewable energy sources is by harnessing the wind to produce pollution-free electricity. Windmills can be installed on rooftops or in yards, or if you live out of town, in the fields. Windmills are available commercially but there is also quite a wide variety of reasonably priced kits available for anyone who is keen to do their own and so lower the costs significantly.

Water Power – If you have a property with a stream on it, you can further add to the efficiency of your alternative energy home with hydro-electric power. This is another great, pollution-free power source which is easy to look after and works as long as there is water available.

The ultimate green energy home would combine all of these resources. You are not only looking at huge savings, and even possible profits, from your electricity usage by utilizing solar, wind, and water to create your home’s power, but you would also be contributing to a cleaner, greener, Earth, as these simple, natural, renewable options don’t produce the greenhouse gas emissions which are causing global warming.

By adding passive solar design and a solar hot water system to the mix, you would further reduce your energy needs, exponentially, and would be truly living well – living green.

A renewable energy home doesn’t require more maintenance than traditional homes. Solar technologies require little to no maintenance, while just a regular oiling will keep wind and water turbines at peak performance. There is no better time to create your green energy home.

Do yourself and the world a favour – it will be something you can be proud of.

CoolMamie is an enthusiastic promoter of energy-efficient and environmentally-friendly systems and passive solar design for homes. Find out how to create your green energy home: http://www.yourhomepower.info My blog is at: http://www.livewell-livegreen.com – leave a message there or at Squidoo.
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Solar Hot Water – How Big a System Do You Need to Supply Your Home Hot Water Needs?

December 3, 2009 | By Articles are the property of their respective Authors In environment | Comments(0)

When considering Solar Hot Water (SHW) systems,it also pays to look at your home water usage. While it is great to save money on a solar hot water system, it seems unreasonable to continue wasting a valuable resource. Water supplied to your home has take energy to store and pump it to your door, no matter whether its is from a reservoir or ground water. So, rather than choosing a storage or heater unit on size, take a look at your real needs. However, the fact is that a SHW unit can likely provide most if not all of your needs if properly sized and set up. Even snowy climates an benefit from solar hot water units. When you combine a solar hot water system with solar power, you can make very large savings on power consumption. The great thing is, that if you are handy, DIY solar projects, either hot water or solar power, are quite achievable.

If we consider the number of people in the home, we can work back to typical usage volumes and from there to the size of the storage unit and the solar collector area.
A storage tank of 200 liters (50 to 60 gallons) is about right for up to three people if used with some awareness of your usage. Larger systems of 300 liters (80 gallons) suite three to four people. With bigger families, you will need larger storage or possible some kind of “booster” to make up nay “solar shortfall”. Depending on what you set your systems temperature at and the temperature of the incoming water, your system will need to reflect the size of the collector. If you are living in snowy climates, the colder water takes more to heat and there will be heat loss unless the unit is properly insulated.

What does this mean in terms of collector sizes? It is typical to allow about 2 square meters for each person up to 2 people, and after that you add one square meter for each person. This allows for the seasonal variation of sun hours and solar heating. Lets face it, having a little more solar hot water capacity is always welcome especially when the heating is free. The added cost of the extra collection unit adds little to the overall installation. If you live in snowy climates or areas of lower sun intensity or hours such as the lower northern or southern latitudes, then you would always err on the bigger size of collector.

Providing information to online users interested in living a lifestyle using ecologically sound solutions. Visit SolarDIYTips for information solar DIY solutions. Helping people find simple Solar energy information and Eco-Friendly solutions to everyday living.

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