Solar panel systems have become more and more popular.
Home solar power systems are one way that many residential buildings can cut the cost of electricity down to size. This is an especially popular solution to energy prices in Texas, where bright and sunny days are common, and all that sunshine has the potential to create free, clean electricity.
Photovoltaic Panels
Residential solar power comes in the form of photovoltaic panels. These panels are the advanced versions of what you see on small, light powered calculators and watches. When light hits the solar panel, the visible light and the UV rays react with the chemicals in the power to create a direct electricity current.
Location
These photovoltaic panels are usually placed on a home's roof like shingles. The roof space is usually not used anyway, and transforming it into a power generator makes good sense. The roof of a garage is also usable, but it is also possible to install photovoltaic panels on a pole. These latter panels may be rotated to follow the sun, and thus to pull in the most energy.
Converter
A home solar power system of the type commonly installed in Texas creates direct current electricity, the sort you'd get from a battery. Installing a converter in your garage or in an outside cabinet, though, will turn the direct current into alternating current, which is the same kind you get from the power company, and which is commonly used in the home.
Cost Savings/Gain
When you set up a renewable energy source like this, you're still plugged into the grid. Essentially, you use the electricity that you produce first, but any spare electricity that you don't use is sent back to the energy grid and you're credited for it. When the sun goes down and you're not producing electricity, you pull power back out of the grid. You only have to pay for power that is over and above what you actually produce and contribute.
