Solar energy is an easy-to-use, generally safe, clean , and renewable resource. Here's how to make the most of it for living off the grid, in a developing country , or even outside.
This article focuses on using solar energy for electricity, which can be used to perform all kinds of work. For heating, including space heating , water heating and cooking, it is generally much simpler and cheaper to collect the sun's heat directly, or, in some cases, overall better to use other energy sources frugally.
**Steps**
1. Create a Budget.
Solar power generally has a high up-front (capital) cost and--if it works-saves money over time (low operating cost). If you estimate that your solar project will cost a large part of your monthly income, or more, make a budget for your overall expenses and project expenses to make sure the project won't cause great financial hardship even if for some unknown reason it turns out to be a total loss.
Solar energy can save a lot of money compared to crude or inefficiently delivered or used sources of energy such as lamp oil. It can also make you a lot of money by helping you read and learn to be more productive, or work with power tools rather than hand tools. Don't take these savings and additional income into account in deciding whether you can afford solar energy, since something might go wrong. But, once you find you can afford the system, take them into account to decide whether it would be a good idea, bearing in mind they may not turn out exactly as you expected.
2. Decide whether you want a solar-powered device, or a System.
A stand-alone solar-powered device, such as a solar lantern, rechargeable lamp, or dedicated cell phone charger, is individually cheaper, more portable, does not require skilled installation, and, being self-contained, is less likely to require repair. A system with separate components (which may be bought as a kit chosen to work well together) is cheaper and more effective in the long run because it allows many devices to share a common pool of the expensive solar cells and batteries, and because there are many more suppliers competing on quality and price for ordinary appliances and large solar energy components than on individual stand-alone solar gadgets.
Some standalone devices incorporate a few functions, such as a lantern, radio, and cell-phone charging outlet.
If you don't have any experience with Solar energy, try a simple, low-powered but good quality standalone device such as a lantern to see how you like it and understand the basic principles of operation. www.facebook.com/grinsystems
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