Solar panels are often built to harness the infinite reservoir of energy from our sun to some other form of usable energy. Generally the energy that results will be available in the form of heat (to heat a home for example) or electricity which can be used to power anything from a small battery to a whole house.In this article I am going to speak about the larger residential and commercial panels that are designed to generate electricity for the home or business, where such solar panels are typically put on the top of the house or in close proximity to the structure if space allows. We are going to concentrate our discussion on the type of panels that generate electrical power known as Photovoltaic cells.Solar panels are a terrific way to cut energy costs and to lower your carbon footprint, and to become more self-sufficient. They are now becoming popular in inner-city areas where alternative electricity advocates and law makers are creating incentives for this green and quiet alternative electricity source. The state of Nevada, for example, has been offering large rebates on up-front cost in acquiring and implementing a residential solar system. After the system is up and running, electricity from the system will be used to power the home, or, when energy is being generated that exceeds what is being used, re-routed for use on the grid, where it is purchased back by the utility provider. There may be situations where you are actually making revenue from your panels. With rebates figured into the cost it will generally take from 15 to 24 years to recoup the initial investment, at which time you will essentially be generating energy from the sun without cost.One little-known fact, however, is that solar systems are initially contributory to green-house gas emissions due to the fact that it requires an input of power to manufacture the solar panel, that this energy is most often carbon-based, and front-end loaded, and that therefore there is a time period during which the panel has actually added to carbon emissions rather than subtracted from them. Until the solar panel has produced power equivalent to the energy used to manufacture it (its fossil-emission payback period) it is actually a contributor to greenhouse emissions. This fossil-emission payback period is normally considered to be four to 10 years.Low power panels are normally available in 12 volt or 14 v configurations, while many high power solar panels are only available as 24 volt. As solar panels are DC, you will normally require a power inverter that uprates the voltage from low-voltage Direct Current to high-voltage Alternating Current to change it to be the same as the energy that enters the house and the power grid.Todays solar panels are made of two sheets of silicon, doped with phosphorus and boron particles. High-tech Amorphous silicon solar cells are a powerful, emerging line of photovoltaics that differ in voltage, wattage, structure, and manufacture than traditional photovoltaics that use crystalline silicon. The H-AS solar panels are manufactured in a similar way, but they are just 1 micrometer in depth by laying down polymorphous silicon at very intense pressures and temperatures. Solar panels are normally maintenance free and many manufacturing companies will give a warranty of electrical output for as long as twenty-five years.Solar panels are generally installed on the side of your house that gets the most solar exposurein those locales that are south of the equatorial line this would be the north-facing side, and in places that are north of the equator its the south-facing aspect.