The sun provides clean, green energy that can be turned into electricity without the use of fossil fuels. Solar panels are easily among the greenest choices for generating electricity, and are an especially good choice for family and household use. A solar PV system may be a good choice for your family if your home, property and household meet the following conditions.
You want the cleanest energy possible. While there are a number of microgeneration methods that meet clean energy standards, solar PV systems are arguably the cleanest of them all. They require no fuel or power to run, and once the panels are made, require almost no upkeep at all that would contribute to your carbon footprint. And while it does take energy to produce solar panels, the International Energy Agency estimates that the typical rooftop solar PV system will recover what they call "embedded costs" within 1.6 to 3.3 years, depending on their geographical location. That means that within the first three years of use, your panels will have completely offset the amount of carbon used in their manufacture and transportation by reducing the amount of carbon-based electricity you use.
You have a rooftop that is oriented in a southerly direction. South-facing rooftops offer the best position for capturing direct energy from the sun. Because of this, panels mounted on rooftops that face south will generate the most electricity. Your roof doesn't have to face directly south, however. As long as it faces between southeast and southwest, your solar panels will receive enough sun and daylight to reduce your use of traditional electricity by up to 50 percent.
In addition, the ideal pitch for your rooftop is 30 degrees, but anywhere from 15 degrees to 45 degrees is suitable for solar energy production. If your roof is flat, panels may be mounted on A-frames to the precise angle that's best for producing electricity at your location.
You want a grid-tied system. The two major types of solar PV systems are grid-tied and self-contained. The only real difference between the two is that self-contained solar PV systems feed excess electricity into a battery for later use in your household. Grid-tied solar panels, on the other hand, don't have any battery storage. Instead, your home remains connected to the electrical grid so that you can draw electricity from it when your solar panels don't produce enough for your immediate use, such as at night or during periods of heavy electricity use. At the same time, any excess electricity produced by your solar panels is fed back into the national grid so that it can be used by others. A grid-tied system creates a win-win situation. You win because you never have to worry that you won't have enough electricity. The country wins because your solar panels are contributing to energy security for everyone.
You want to be paid for the electricity your solar panels generate. In the UK, as in many other countries around the world, the government has established a program to subsidize the changeover from carbon-based electricity to greener types of electricity generation. In the UK, the Feed-in Tariff Scheme, or FiTs, pays property owners a specific rate for every kilowatt hour of electricity generated by their solar panels, whether it's used in house or exported to the grid. Based on current tariff rates, you can recover the cost of your solar panels and installation in less than 10 years, and continue to collect fees for generating electricity for a full 25 years.
Learn more about the advantages of installing solar panels on your roof by contacting a solar PV specialist in your area.
Author Resource:
Chris Robertson is an author of Majon International, one of the world's MOST popular internet marketing companies on the web.
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