What's So Great About Solar Energy?
The cost of energy increases daily as gas prices spiral out of control and electricity prices clock in at twice what they were at the beginning of this century. Our country has become addicted to petroleum products, which is very unfortunate since the vast majority of petroleum products are produced in countries that are politically unstable. This causes problems with this stability of prices. Additionally, any addiction problem puts the addicts at the mercy of the dealers. Addiction to petroleum products puts our nation at the mercy of the countries that produce petroleum and it puts individual people at the mercy of the companies that sell petroleum products. Luckily, there is a smart and affordable way to get energy and that is from the sun. The value of the sun as a source of energy has been downplayed by those who sell energy for quite some time. The fact of the matter is, the sun belongs to everyone and the energy it produces can be enjoyed by everyone at affordable costs.
New energy pours out of the sun on a continuous an ongoing basis. We just need to find ways to harness it and we will all have all the energy we need to run our many and varied appliances and whatnot. You can harness the energy of the sun in lots of different ways. For example, you could install solar panels on the roof of your home. If you go this route, you can at least save about 90% on your electric bill.
You may even find yourself selling energy back to the power company. If your solar installation ends up making more into energy then your household can use, you may be able to ask your utility company to install a reverse meter in your home. This device will measure the amount of excess energy your home is generating and channel it to the utility company. Then instead of receiving a bill every month, you may very well receive a check in the mail or direct deposit.
It takes a bit of money to convert your home to become totally solar, but once the job is done you'll be saving huge piles of money and perhaps even earning money with your clean and efficient technology. On top of all this, you may even be able to get some money back when you convert your home to solar. There are many government incentives available, and you can get tax credits from your state as well as the federal government. This may very well pay for your installation completely.
Installing solar energy panels is not rocket science. You can buy do it yourself solar panels and convert your home little by little if this is a more affordable and easier way for you to convert to solar. You can convert sections of lighting and individual functions in your home to solar one or two panels at a time. For example you might put all of your outdoor lighting on a solar panel. Then you might make your water heater solar-powered. By converting to solar in increments, you may make it more affordable for yourself.
Everyone would like to be free of the addiction to petroleum products, coal and natural gas and all of the destructive methods used to mine these finite resources. Solar energy is clean, free and limitless. The technology used to gather and use it does not harm the environment. The less we use expensive, polluting energy sources from the earth the less they will be gathered and a healthier the earth will be.
People around the world are becoming more environmentally conscious, and it's about time! For this reason, solar-power is becoming more and more popular and more and more in demand. By using the tips presented here, you can kick the petroleum products habit and make a smart and environmentally conscious choice by switching to solar-power.
