Advantages of Solar Energy for Your Home
One of the many advantages of using solar energy for the home today is that a solar energy system can help to lower your utility bills. It’s possible to get home solar without spending a fortune, and it is an investment that can save money over time as your monthly electricity bills are lowered.
There are companies today which specialize in purchasing, designing and installing home solar power systems for home use, and some of these companies offer their services for $0 down. Solar power users stay connected to the grid and to their utilities, but they use traditional electricity only when they need it. Typically, solar energy systems can lower your monthly utility bills by up to 15%, and you can lock in a low monthly rate on your home solar energy bills for up to 20 years.
Disadvantages of Solar Power for Your Home
For all the benefits of using solar power in your home, there are also several disadvantages to consider. While passive and thermal solar energy generation has little in the way of disadvantages, the use of silicon and thin film photovoltaic collectors which convert solar rays into electricity have some notable drawbacks. Location can be a real issue, particularly in rainy and foggy environments.
While solar panels will still produce energy on cloudy days, more of them may be required to meet your home energy needs in rainy climates. Adjacent structures, landscape features or trees may also restrict access to the sun on your property and make the use of solar power difficult. Solar panels for the home are large so you need to have a large and unobstructed area which is flat or angled in a favorable direction in order to get at least 5 hours of sun per day.
How to Build DIY Solar Panels
Building DIY solar panels is not as difficult as you may assume. All that’s required is the right guide and a few simple tools. With some effort, almost anyone can save a ton of money by building their own solar panels, and the job can even be accomplished in a single weekend.
There are some DIY solar panel guides which have proven very helpful to some amateur solar panel builders, as it contains detailed parts lists and suppliers, along with step by step videos which illustrate each step in the process. The basic tools you need to build solar panels using a wood container design include a saw, a screwdriver, a drill, wood glue and silicone caulk. For wiring, you will need wire strippers, cutters, a soldering iron and solder. Most of these tools can be purchased at your local hardware store.
Earth4Energy DIY Solar Energy Manual
The Earth4Energy manual provides a wealth of information for homeowners who want to create solar and wind energy to supplement or replace the electricity they get form their local power company. The manual contains all the information you need to build and install your own solar power system at home for less than $200 in materials.
Most of these materials can be purchased from your local hardware store, and by following the step by step instructions in the manual you can create solar panels to use at home. The manual has a section that helps homeowners determine the solar power needs of their property, including how many panels they will need, where to locate them, and how to install them. It’s clear that DIY solar power is a trend that’s catching on today, because it can benefit almost any homeowner and it is so easy and cost effective to implement.
Drawbacks of Earth4Energy Manual
At least one website review of the Earth4Energy manual is very critical of the product and the marketing tactics of the company. They argue that so many referring sites hoping to make a commission coupled with fraudulent landing pages leaves consumers confused over which claims about the product are legitimate and which are false.
For example, one of the common claims in regard to solar power is that you can generate lots of power which will be equivalent to what you can get from your local electric company. However, the energy generated by solar panels is limited by the output of the sun and the square meters of roof space on which you can locate solar panels. Also, on cloudy days you will generate much less power, so in order to go completely off grid most people will need to significantly limit their energy use.



![Balancing Sunlight [Photo by Pink Sherbet Photography] (CC BY-SA 3.0)](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2475/3938631939_a5d83a1958_m.jpg)
![Sun set from Terrace [Photo by Balaji.B] (CC BY-SA 3.0)](http://farm1.static.flickr.com/200/486719017_5790701018_m.jpg)
![solar install [Photo by bkusler] (CC BY-SA 3.0)](http://farm1.static.flickr.com/16/23331054_7a4cb528eb_m.jpg)





Review of Earth4Energy DIY Solar Energy Manual http://t.co/yImxdJFK #socent