It seems that fuel costs for the home rise above inflation each and every year. I'm not completely sure why this is the case. There have been many changes in the way utility companies are run in many countries. The biggest change is that many companies have become privatized. This means that they are responsible to their shareholders and their aim is to make a profit. This may explain why prices have been going up from a cynical perspective.



However, the companies themselves are at pains to point out that the real reason for increases is that the fuel used is becoming scarce. Coal, oil and gas are resources that are used by power stations to create electricity or are supplied directly to homes. All of these resources are finite and the more they get used the harder they become to find and extract. All these extra costs have to be passed on to the consumer by the utility companies.

Within this context, people are embracing new ways to create power for the home that are considerably cheaper and have a longterm future. A popular option is solar power. Solar power in one form or the other has been around for thousands of years. In more recent times the technology has been developed to take advantage of sunlight energy. Before that it was principally the heat from the sun that was used. This article will discuss how to run a house on solar power using both these sources.

So, you can run a house using the sun's thermal energy. The best application of this is to heat water that can be used in the home (or even a swimming pool).

The way this works is by exposing a metal surface to the Sun. The metal plate will absorb the heat and become hot. This process can be made more efficient if the metal surface is painted black and the areas that do not come into contact with the Sun are insulated to prevent the heat escaping.

By passing colder water past the hot plate, the heat will be transferred to the water. This would create hot water. Depending on the heat of the hot plate, this water could be used directly in the home or it could be connected to the normal hot water boiler. The solar pre-heated water can then by heated to an adequate temperature for the home. The pre-heating should save on energy used by the normal hot water boiler.

So a good solar water heating system can save you money on water heating costs which is often one of the more expensive items on a monthly utility bill.

Using sunlight to create electricity is a fairly recent innovation. Photovoltaic (PV) cells were first developed in the 1950's. A PV cell is made from a silicon semi conductor. When photons, the elementary particles of sunlight strike the PV cell, an electron is thrown loose from the silicon atom. By controlling the flow of electrons using an electric field a current can be produced.

This is direct current (DC) which can be stored in batteries or converted to alternating current (AC). Using an power inverter. AC is used in homes to power lights, and most appliances that plug into wall electrical sockets.

Solar panels that you may have seen on a few roofs around your neighborhood are the practical application of photovoltaics. One panel is a group of PV cells aligned in a parallel or series configuration to increase the output of electricity. The efficiency of solar panels has improved over the years. The costs to create and install a solar panel have also reduced over the years.

Many people allow the utility company to install the solar panels or at least connect the panels to the grid. This means that the electricity that is created by your solar panel is sold to the utility company. This can save money on the electricity that you use from the utility company. This is even more the case if the state requires utility companies to buy the electricity at retail price.

The advantage of being connected to the grid is that if there is no Sun then you can use the grid electricity. There is less responsibility on the homeowner which can suit people new to solar power.

The next step is to go off the grid completely. This is more responsibility for the individual and more knowledge of the system is needed. They will also need a back up energy generation system should there be any problems.