There are no alternatives but to make your own solar energy if you want to get uninterrupted power in future at cheaper costs. With the economy in recession, power bills are going up and up. It is not uncommon for many families to run thousands of dollars each year in power expenses. Many who have opted for solar power have gone off grid and are also getting paid by power companies for the surplus power they produce.

Why pay the power companies when you can make your own solar energy? It is sustainable and renewable unlike any other energy source, and clean, green and efficient. The energy sources that go into making electricity delivered into homes coast to coast by the power companies are fast getting depleted. Many of them are sourced from nations not particularly inclined to the US and the more the dependence the more chances of danger spilling over into mainland.

Primarily, you should do an energy audit of your home or place of work where you would want a solar system installed. Check the power used on a monthly basis by your household to enable you to design the perfect system to power your home. You could also check for any leakages of power that could be taking place to get the optimum consumption level.

There are basically two ways to make your own solar energy. You could buy the system from a retailer or do it yourself. Buying a system straight away online or at a brick and mortar store can set you back by tens of thousands of dollars while a DIY stuff is possible cheap. You need to source solar cells and deep cycle batteries at places like eBay where you can also find used stuff. Most of the parts are also available at a hardware store near you.

These are all photovoltaic cells and take some time to get them in good condition if you opt for used cells. While cracked cells can be repaired, you have to throw away broken cells. After you have gotten the cells together and checked them out, solder them all together for making the solar panel. Readying the solar panels is the first step to make your own solar energy. You can also get the ready panels from retailers, but at a much higher cost.

As solar panels are installed on the roof, you need to check the place where it can collect maximum sunlight through the day. But the angle and position of the solar panels is vital for getting more solar power. A battery bank will help as the power from the modules is usually not uniform. Charge the battery of the solar cells by connecting to a controller for direct current, and for alternate current, change through a power inverter.

About the Author: Johan Marais has been writing about building and building related project for a while (c) www.diybuildingtips.com

With expenses of essentials soaring, a DIY generator is becoming a must have in most homes coast to coast. You cannot pass up payments toward mortgages or your debt and even essentials, but you would be forced to if you don’t act fast. Power companies are charging you more every year as the resources they use to generate electricity are fast getting depleted. Many Americans are realizing that since they are sourced from overseas, there would be no respite from high power costs.

The economic recession has made people sit up and take notice of the looming danger ahead. Average American home owners end up paying thousands of dollars each year toward power bills. The costly scenario has made them go for a DIY generator to power their homes or offices.

Not only generating power is cheap, it is clean if you use wind or solar power, or even gas. You could be doing some service to the environment and encouraging others to replicate your feat. If you can generate electricity on your own, you can do it for a far lower cost. It is the ideal way to beat the power bills and even go off grid.

Initially, you may not be able to generate your entire power requirement, but in a few years you can go off grid with your DIY generator. The surplus power that you would be producing would be bought by the power companies. They would pay you for the excess electricity you generate. If you can harness natural wind energy, you can save loads in power bills. It is clean and green energy.

Nowadays, generators are also becoming common in many American homes as there are power outages leaving residents without electricity even for days. If you have some land space, you can install a wind generator at a fraction of the cost. You don’t need to be an expert or an engineer to DIY a generator as it requires basic knowledge.

The tools are with you and the materials can easily be sourced from a local hardware store. If power use for your home is high, you would need a wind generator. If your home is located in a place where the wind speed is 9 miles an hour, you can safely go for a generator. You would need a couple of hours of wind at that speed to generate your requirement and also conserve some. Converters would aid in converting DC to AC depending on what you want to power.

It would also depend on the height of the tower as the higher it would be the better chances for generating more electricity. The number of blades and the speed at which they would rotate would also determine the generation capacity of your DIY generator.

About the Author: Johan Marais has been writing about building and building related project for a while (c) www.diybuildingtips.com