Learn how to Lower your electricity Bill
UPDATE: I have a dedicated blog for all my green/environment posts: check it out at http://www.hippygreen.com
For my entire life I always thought solar panels were such a great idea. Solar panels convert light into energy. During my “time” at Vermont, I meet many people what had installed solar hot water heaters or discussed projects that used solar panels.
Pat from Will Blog for Experience: Patrick posted an article about his $180 solar pack for his Macbook. “This kit weighs about 2 lbs, costs $180, and will power my Macbook for 1.75 hours”. He used eBay to buy some of the solar panels. eBay is great for embedded electronics and random DIY or Make Projects.
I haven’t built a Solar Panel project, yet… but I had an idea for one. While taking a class at UVM someone pointed out if you made 80 square miles (I beleive if someone knows, please comment below) of solar panels in Arizona, it could power all of the United States. I always wanted to build a solar power plant that was COOP. You could buy a section of the solar panel, and get a small check each week. This could be used to offset your current electricity bill. In the Netherlands 30% of Windturbines are COOP, it would just make sense to setup a solar plant in AZ that was COOP.
If you are interested in this idea, please contact me.
During Christmas I was down in Arizona and looked for houses with them, but to my dismay, not many had them. Its like FREE POWER - the upfront cost. But in most states, the power company HAS TO buy back power until net. I know when I finally buy a house, a solar hot water heater is my first project.
Let me know what Solar Panel Projects you want to do or have?
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i think the problem is that for the cost of 80 sq miles of solar panels you could build enough conventional power plants to power the entire solar system. I talk to my brother Mike (hes an energy freak) about this a bit as you can imagine and have basically concluded that the best thing you can do is reduce your energy footprint. Green energy is getting better but is still too expensive to be economically feasible (not that that is the only reason to do it but it is the gate to getting large scale acceptance). You will do more good by getting a high efficiency fridge and front loading washing machine instead of solar panels for your house. If you really want to be cool do both!
You can go to any aubuchon hardware store and get compact flouresent light bulbs for less than a buck each. They use 1/5 of the energy and last 5 times longer than incandescent bulbs. At the very least outfit your house with those.
Not sure if they offer the discount online but they do in-store (you fill out a small form - it may be a VT thing as well): http://electrical.hardwarestore.com/13-41-compact-fluorescent/maxlite-micromax-spiral-465930.aspx