Making The Switch To Solar Power At Home

Making The Switch to Solar Power at Home

by

Lewis Watkins

The benefits of solar panels are obvious. As well as offering savings on your electricity bills, they can provide an income, and reduce environmental damage by providing a green source of energy. But what are the steps to installing solar electricity panels on your home? Consider the following points to find a solar panel solution to suit you.

Is Your Roof Suitable?

Solar electricity panels

are found on homes in Shropshire and across the UK, but they are not an option for everybody. You may face problems before the installation stage if your house is listed or in a conservation area, so seek planning permission to find out. If your house isn t in a world heritage site or a conservation area you are not likely to need planning permission.

If you have a north facing roof or totally in the shade (for example, if it is an area enclosed by tall buildings), you may also not be able to install the panels. South facing roofs are most efficient for solar panels, but east and west facing roofs still offer 80% of their efficiency. Similarly, you will need to ensure that your roof is not in a poor state of repair or physically unable to support the panels. All homes are different so seek advice from a solar panel installation business to find out about your personal needs.

Understand Your Needs:

Estimate, perhaps using the total from your electricity bill, your daily usage of energy in watts. Using a bill from your electricity company divide the total number of watts over the number or days in that bill s time period.

Once you know your average daily usage in Watts, work out how many hours of sunlight your

solar panels

will see each day. Remember that this changes with the seasons so try to estimate an average over the whole year. Local solar electricity panels providers in Shropshire and across the UK should be able to give you a rough idea of the hours of sunlight in your area.

Divide your daily number of watts used by the number of sunlight hours you get daily. This will give you the number of watts you need to generate each hour. Solar panels are categorised by the number of watts they generate per hour, 50,100 or 500 for example. You will need the wattage for the number of panels to match the number of watts you use per hour. Therefore, if your hourly usage is 3,000 watts you will require six 500 watt panels on your home.

Contact Your Panel Provider

Whether you can complete the calculation stage on your own or require assistance from the professionals, the next stage is to contact your provider of solar electricity panels in Shropshire or across the UK.

Solar Days

provide professional solar panel installation and can give you advice tailored to your project.

Contact them for more information, or read about the

Benefits of Solar Panels

, visit: www.solar-days.co.uk

Article Source:

ArticleRich.com