The Pros And Cons Of Renewable Energy Sources For The Home

The use of alternative energy for home use has been building momentum over recent years

, and home owners have been exploring the best types to integrate into their houses. There are several applications, but some are better suited to bigger scale applications, like hydro-electric installations. Amongst other forms of renewable energy, some have a downside that make them less interesting. The common varieties of renewable alternative energy systems are the solar applications, such as photovoltaic for generating electricity and thermal types for hot water, heat pumps and wind power.

Photovoltaic panels have some big advantages, as it's a a static system that requires almost no maintenance aside from cleaning the glass over the panels periodically. Of course, if the installation includes a bank of rechargeable batteries for total autonomy, then they would require periodic maintenance for checking battery liquid levels and eventual voltage fluctuations. Although efficiency does go down over time, standard photovoltaic panels will continue to produce reasonable amounts of electrical energy for over forty years. Of the solar energy disadvantages relating to photovoltaic panels, perhaps the biggest is the price, but even this is reducing as manufacturing processes improve and competitive forces drives down the prices of the raw material. This kind of panel is only thirteen percent efficient, which means that if if one thousand watts of the sun's heat falls on a square meter, we have to have eight square meters to generate just 1kw of electricity. The efficiency of these panels can vary quite a lot, and depends on the lateral orientation, the inclination, country of application, the season and level of cloud cover. In very bright sunlight, photovoltaic panels can overheat, and should be installed with a space between the back of the panels and roof tiles.

The next big direct solar application is thermal water heating. This kind of panel is around 75% efficient, needing only 1.4 square meters of collecting panels to transform sunshine energy into 1kw of thermal energy for heating water. Of course, this estimated figure of one thousand watts of sunshine energy per square meter can vary according to numerous factors, like location , cloud level, and the orientation and inclination of the panels. A system designed to heat the home's hot water isn't too expensive, particularly if the object is to produce approximately 80% of the family requirements. An installation with up to 40 square meters of collector area could provide valuable heating in the winter seasons, especially when supplementing an underfloor warming system. The great disadvantage of solar water heating systems is the amount of maintenance necessary, as the pipework is usually kept under pressure, has parts which rotate (water circulation pump) and contains anti-freeze, all of which require regular maintenance.

by: Peter Bruce

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