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It seems that the cost of gas, electricity and oil to provide power to our homes continues to rise every year. This rise often seems to outstrip average inflation. We are often told that there are a number of legitimate reasons for this inflation. One that may not be so well publicized is that many utilities companies are privatized and have to run at a profit. Indeed, the management would not be doing their job if they did not turn a profit.

However, the companies themselves are at pains to point out that the real reason for increases is that the fuel used is becoming scarce. Coal, oil and gas are resources that are used by power stations to create electricity or are supplied directly to homes. All of these resources are finite and the more they get used the harder they become to find and extract. All these extra costs have to be passed on to the consumer by the utility companies.

From this perspective, people are becoming more interested in alternatives to traditional generated power for the home. One alternative that has had a long and successful history of providing making with energy is solar power. This article will cover how to run a home on solar power using the latest innovations in the solar energy field.

You can run a house using the heat energy supplied by the Sun. The most typical application of thermal energy is to heat water. This can be used as hot water to use or heat the home. Solar thermal energy can also heat a swimming pool.

The way this works is by exposing a metal surface to the Sun. The metal plate will absorb the heat and become hot. This process can be made more efficient if the metal surface is painted black and the areas that do not come into contact with the Sun are insulated to prevent the heat escaping.

By passing colder water past the hot plate, the heat will be transferred to the water. This would create hot water. Depending on the heat of the hot plate, this water could be used directly in the home or it could be connected to the normal hot water boiler. The solar pre-heated water can then by heated to an adequate temperature for the home. The pre-heating should save on energy used by the normal hot water boiler.

Thus a solar water heating system can save on one of the more expensive items on a normal households utility bills.

We can also utilize sunlight to create electricity. This is a more recent development in solar power technology and is known as photovoltaics. Cells made of a silicon semi-conductor react to photons in sunlight. The reaction causes an electron to be thrown loose. The flow of electrons can be controlled using an electric field. This can create a current of electricity. The more photovoltaic cells that are connected the greater the voltage and current that can be produced.

This is direct current (DC) which can be stored in batteries or converted to alternating current (AC). Using an power inverter. AC is used in homes to power lights, and most appliances that plug into wall electrical sockets.

The solar panels that you see on the roof of many houses are a number of PV cells connected together in a series or parallel configuration to increase the amount of electricity that can be produced.

Many people allow the utility company to install the solar panels or at least connect the panels to the grid. This means that the electricity that is created by your solar panel is sold to the utility company. This can save money on the electricity that you use from the utility company. This is even more the case if the state requires utility companies to buy the electricity at retail price.

The advantage of being connected to the grid is that if there is no Sun then you can use the grid electricity. There is less responsibility on the homeowner which can suit people new to solar power.

The final stage in this process is to go off grid. This means you stop using the utility company and take responsibility for your own power generation. This will require more work and you will probably have a combination of systems to cover all eventualities. So your major system might be solar but you also have a wind power generator if the sun stops shining or the weather becomes bad.