Solar kits

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Solar kits come in many different forms. Some are home kits, which may be designed to provide clean and free energy from the sun to the home. Others are intended as grid-tie systems. These systems are tied into city power.

Both of these versions which provide electricity do so with the use of photovoltaic (PV) panels. PV panels are created with a semiconductor material, most commonly silicon. When the sunlight hits the panels, electrons within the silicon are knocked loose. This results in the creation of a direct electrical current.

The direct current (DC) power can then be put through an inverter. This turns it into alternating current (AC) power – which businesses and residences can use.

Solar power is helpful in a number of ways. For instance, it is a much cleaner energy option than going through the electrical grid. City power is created by burning fossil fuels, which creates excess greenhouse gases (GHGs).

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has determined that anthropogenic, or “human-caused,” GHGs are very likely the cause of an increased global temperature over the past 50 years. The use of the phrase “very likely” implies that there is over a 90% likelihood of anthropogenic GHGs being the cause.

Because they do not rely on the combustion of fossil fuels, solar kits and their installation do not encourage the emission of harmful greenhouse gases.

In addition to this, they make use of the completely free energy of the sun. This can significantly cut down the costs of energy bills when these kits are used to supplement city power. Sometimes all the energy needs of a home may be taken care of by solar power. Under these circumstances, energy bills are completely done away with rather than simply lowered.

PV panels are pretty much maintenance-free. At the most, they may require some cleaning in situations such as if leaves or other lightweight items are windblown upon them. However, the panels are ideally placed in locations where trees and other objects will not obstruct them. For this reason, they do not generally collect miscellaneous debris.

Also, these home solar systems do not incorporate any moving parts. There are no parts which will wear with continual use. Because of this, there is no need to repeatedly replace pieces which have gone bad.

Solar kits may also be purchased to provide power to recreational vehicles (RVs) and boats. Of course, setting up PV power for these applications does take additional considerations. For instance, it is often more important to optimize the space available. This means that selecting panels which offer high efficiency for their size is important, rather than selecting less efficient panels which would require more space to meet the same energy needs.

Another thing to remember about boats and RVs is that their orientations are continually changing. On the other hand, solar panels permanently mounted upon the home are designed to generally absorb the most sun from a specific direction. The PV panels of an RV or boat should be mounted in a more versatile way.