If you are interested in saving money on your power bill or want a to leave a lower carbon footprint on the earth, home solar power may be the answer for which you are looking.
Solar cells have been available for many years and are a way of producing electricity on site. Many persons that use solar energy may have no other source of electricity, while others are still connected to the normal power supply, but use their solar power to reduce the cost that they spend on electricity. Still others use solar electricity with some other form of power that is produced on site. They may choose to use a generator that is powered by fossil fuels or a wind turbine to produce supplemental energy as needed.
If you are going to be totally dependent on solar energy, then you will need to plan for the nights when the sun is not shining. Many solar energy users will also have a large bank of batteries that can be used to store the electricity that is generated by the sun during the day. This will give them the necessary energy to operate lights and appliances after dark or on overcast days when the sun is not producing electricity through their solar cells.
While solar energy is useful in many areas, there are some areas where you will likely need to have a source of back up power. If you depend on electricity for heating or cooling of your home, it is unlikely that you will have the capacity to produce or store enough energy for this use. Many persons use alternate sources of heat or cooling in these cases.
One way that is often used by those who live far from the grid to heat the home is by the use of wood heat. There are certain species of trees that can be planted for a woodlot that will reproduce themselves from the root stock and provide enough wood to keep the home heated through the winter.
During the summer, cooling may be a problem, especially in areas where the humidity is high. One suggestion is to use cool air from the basement and fans to cool the home. Another uses an underground cooling tube that is connected to fans and duct work in the home for cooling.
Recently solar air conditioning units have been introduced. These units have their own power supplies and are efficient at zone cooling. These units are currently very expensive, but prices should eventually drop and once the units are purchased, there is no expense of cooling the home. Development of efficient home heating and cooling units will be a key to furthering the use of home solar power.