Home Energy Solutions

Excited about renewable energy sources and going green? If you Earth4Energy going to customize your own solar power system, there is some basic information regarding solar panels and battery storage you may want to consider.

One of the mistakes made with a solar array and battery storage is the system is not balanced. Too many solar panels and not enough batteries, energy will be wasted. Too many batteries and not enough solar panels (or other renewable energy source) and the batteries will never reached a full state of charge and the power may run out during the night.

The solar panels will need to produce enough watts to maintain the usage throughout the day when the sun is shining and enough battery storage to get through the night plus any reserve battery storage for cloudy days. If you are gone all day then chances are you will use more power during the evening hours after the sun has gone down. Take this into consideration when you do your calculation chart for the number of watts used and increase your battery storage. Be sure to use an efficiency rating such as 75-80% drop. If producing 100 watts a day, only 80 watts of usable energy will be produced. This is due to many factors such as wire size, the distant from the solar array to the batteries and draws such as the inverter/charge controller, and appliances with a constant draw etc. The solar panels need to produce 120% of the power that is needed.

If appliances are added after the solar power system is up, there will be a change in the battery reserve. When calculating the usage for your home, try to factor in any future appliances. Keep in mind that ambient temperature effects how often appliances such as refrigerators and freezers cycle. A refrigerator that only uses 1.5 amps but it cycles for 7 minutes every 15 minutes it is drawing for 28 minutes every hour, that’s 11.2 hours per day using 2016 watts a day.

Batteries need to reach a full state of charge in order to equalize at least once a month. On a 12 v system the charge controller may read 12.4 v under a load when the sun goes down, but this may not fully reflect the state of charge and the power may run out quicker.

There are many factors effecting the state of charge. Properly maintaining the batteries each month will increase their life. Check the water level, clean the terminals, put an corrosive cleaner and anti-corrosive on the terminals.

Batteries should have a date on them that is no more than three months apart. They will work for a while but they will not last their full life. The batteries may operate at the weakest battery capacity or a battery that has a short may drain the other batteries.

When calculating the battery storage and reserve, keep in mind that as the battery discharges and the volts go down the amperage goes up to maintain the same watts used and therefore creates a greater draw draining the batteries quicker.

My husband Ron and I built an offgrid dry stack concrete block home in the Arizona desert. We knew nothing about offgrid when we started our venture. We have learned alot about ourselves and our dreams (mostly that we still had some). I decided to share some of our experiences with others who are considering building offgrid.

If you are conscious about your home and ways to improve efficiency (plus save money), consider purchasing an LED (light-emitting diode) Earth4Energy or two, or three. LED bulbs are different from the current incandescent bulbs in many people’s homes. Incandescent lights use filaments, which tend to burn out rather quickly. LED lights, on the other hand, last much longer due to the diodes, rather than filaments.

Don’t let the upfront cost for an LED light fool you. Light-emitting diode bulbs are more costly up front, but actually save consumers a lot of money because of their long life. This is particularly true if you switch all of your bulbs to LED lights and use current appliances that have LEDs or IREDs (infrared-emitting diodes). IRED lights are found in everyday household items. If you own a digital watch or clock, a large-screen T.V. or a microwave, chances are that you already have IREDs in use. Regular LED bulbs do not have infrared light, as an IRED does.

Picture this; you are setting up your Christmas tree with all of the beautiful ornaments and garland and lastly, the lights. If you have older lights, after you turn them on they will get pretty hot after a while, right (increasing the likelihood of a fire)? This is not the case with LED lights. It’s quite the opposite, actually. LED lights are generally cool to the touch because of the lack of filament. LEDs are plastic, instead of glass, like incandescent bulbs are. This means that is pretty unlikely that you would break an LED bulb. These are just a couple more perks of LEDs vs. incandescent bulbs.

The next time you need to purchase a light bulb, consider choosing an LED light as opposed to an incandescent light. You will save money and your Christmas tree will thank you!

and are friendly to the environment and can help you save money.

If the high cost of electricity has been bugging you, it could be a good time for you to look into alternative energy solutions for your home. Solar power panels and wind turbines are very effective in cutting down electrical consumption, Earth4Energy they don’t come cheap too. The alternative: cheap wind turbines that you can make from home.

Commercially available wind turbines are not cheap, and can fetch a hefty price of at least $3000 for a basic system that produces very minimal power output. Of course higher income households may be able to afford such high prices, but what about the average families who are most affected by the high cost of electricity?

For years now, innovative home owners have taken to making their own wind turbines using simple and cheap materials that you can find in the hardware store and second-hand parts available from the scrap garage. I am sure you have seen one or two homes fitted with such wind turbines somewhere in your neighborhood.

Now you too can make your own wind turbine from home. It is relatively easy to make if you are quite handy with tools, and costs a fraction of how much you need to put in for similar products that are factory manufactured. With the proper instructions, you should be able to construct cheap wind turbines that perform as well as those that cost thousands of dollars too.

The beauty of making your own wind turbines is in them being cheap; you can easily afford to have more than one running in your backyard. This will help you to maximize the savings you get off your monthly electricity bills.

So if your electricity bills are a headache every month, consider building your own at home to supplement your electricity supply and slash your power bills.

Get your home wind turbine instruction kit and be the first in your neighborhood to produce electricity for free!

From the beginning of oil exploration and discovery, the need to transport oil to consumers existed. The first successful oil tanker to be built and successfully carry crude was the Zoroaster, which in 1878 shuttled petroleum across the Caspian Sea for what was then the Russian Empire. The idea for this tanker was spawned in the mind of Ludwig Nobel, brother of Alfred Nobel, noted Swedish chemist for whom the esteemed Nobel Prize was named. The free surface effect of liquids in ships had proven the end of all previous ships. The intense movement of waves in the sea would make the liquid shift from one side to the other within the ships, offsetting the ballast and forcing ships to tip and often sink. Nobel solved these problems, and the impressive tanker was built. The Nobel brothers had four years prior developed quite an interest in oil exploration and distribution, forming the Nobel Brothers Oil Extracting Partnership. The brothers built upon the success of this first ship by designing and building a whole fleet of ships to transport the large amounts of oil they were extracting in the Caspian Basin of the Russian Empire.

The next century saw more advancement in shipbuilding for oil transport. These ships became larger and larger over the next few decades, building upon the Nobel brothers’ initial advances. The largest ships were referred to informally as supertankers. These ships carry over 250,000 tons of weight, capable of transporting over two million barrels of oil. The largest supertanker ever built was the Jahre Viking, weighing 564,763 tons. Initially, most tankers were Earth4Energy In single-hulled tankers, the hull also acts as the wall of the oil tanks, making any collision a threat of leakage or spilling.

Most new tankers are double hulled, possessing a space between the walls of the oil storage tanks and the outer wall of the ships, making outer hull damage not such a threat for inner oil leakage. Proponents of double hull ships use the property which makes oil and water repel each other, hydrostatic balance, as part of their argument, insisting that this pressure exists at such a high level within double hulled tankers, and allows them a better chance at preventing oil spillage should a collision occur. Research has shown that through the development of these double hulled ships, oil has reached its destination in a much safer manner, with collisions resulting in a third less spills compared to single hulled ships. Continued development of tankers is necessary to insure the safe transport of this valuable resource across waters to consumers.

About the Author: Robert Jent is the president of . specializes in acquiring the highest quality prime oil and gas properties. For more information, visit