Solar Panels for the Home: Myths You Shouldn’t Believe
With the popularity of green energy and especially solar power lately, more people than ever before are becoming interested in creating their own solar panels and going “off the grid.” But there are a lot of myths and misinformation out there about what you can really do with these solar panels, how much they cost, and how much in dollars they can shave off your electricity bill.
The first, and biggest, myth of all is that solar panels are extremely expensive. This is only true if you buy them through a large company and get a professional installation service – if you do that, it might cost over $20,000 to take your house completely “off the grid”!
But if you do it yourself, it won’t cost nearly that much – there are 2 solid approaches you can use to get your own solar panels at much lower price.
One method is to simply buy already-made solar panels – don’t go for new ones, though. Go for ones that are broken or chipped and not functioning at 100%, and go through eBay, your local hardware store, or even the highway patrol.
Highway patrols spend a good portion of their time picking up broken or chipped solar panels from the side of the road due to accidents – and they desperately need to get rid of them. Call them up and offer to take them off their hands, and save a lot of money.
Another method: you can buy the individual solar cells from eBay or from your local hardware store, and then assemble everything yourself. These cells are very cheap, but they don’t function at 100% – and it will take a few days to assemble everything.
The second big myth about solar panels for the home is that you can completely eliminate your electric bill with them, all the time. This is nice to think about, but the truth is more complicated than that.
First, you may live in an area without much sunlight – or your house itself may just not get enough exposure to the sun.
The other problem is that the average house requires thousands of kilowatts to power everything inside each day. The average solar cell produces 2 Watts – you can do the math there and see that you’d need hundreds or thousands of cells to power your house.
The good news is that even if the solar panels don’t completely eliminate your electric bill, they can still save you a lot of money – and when used in conjunction with wind turbines, you might be able to go 100% off the grid.
The third myth is that do-it-yourself solar panels will fall apart easily, or are very fragile. Don’t get me wrong – nothing lasts forever, and solar panels are no exception.
However, if you construct your panels correctly in the first place and use silicone to prevent moisture from getting in, while also using flexi-glass on the outside to further prevent water and dust from settling there, they will last significantly longer.
And then there’s maintenance – you need to clean your panels, check the wiring, and clean out moisture at least once a year. Do this, and your solar panels will last for years and power your house long into the future.
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