Using Solar Power at Your Home

By Dowl White
When it comes to using renewable energy sources, then without a doubt, solar power is the main type of renewable energy that you can use. There are various ways in which solar power can be harnessed for domestic use in your home. Solar power is probably one of the best ways that you can create energy for your house. Sun is a totally free commodity, as scientists tell us that sun will be around for couple of million years. Especially in areas in which the geographical location receives a lot of sunlight, using solar power becomes very efficient.

The most common way to use solar power at your home is definitely to use solar power to heat your water. By using a storage tank of sufficient size, you can use the heating power of the sun to heat the water. Recent research by various electrical power companies' shows that the greater part of your electricity bill goes to heating water at homes. The process is totally mechanical as the daily solar heat is collected and transferred to the water tank (usually at the roof)

The second way to use solar power at your home is to heat up your whole home at winter. In order to accomplish this, flat plate collectors are used to collect solar heat from the sun. The solar heat which is collected by these solar collectors is used to heat the air by convection. Then this heated air is circulated around the house for heating.

The third way to use solar power at your home is by using it to generate electricity. In this method the light that reaches Earth from the sun is harnessed instead of its heat. By the use of photovoltaic cells, the light that reaches us from the sun is transformed into electrical power.

This process is actually similar to using a calculator that works with solar cells. Big solar collectors are used to collect the light from the sun and this light is transformed into electricity by the use of photovoltaic systems. This electricity is usually used to power small home appliances and pumps at home. In greater systems, it is even possible to generate enough electricity for the whole power usage in your home.

In order to learn more about generating your own power at home with renewable energy sources, you can visit http://www.generateyourelectricity.com/ for further details.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dowl_White