Solar power has been around for several decades, but the technology has only recently begun to achieve feasibility for our home power needs. In the past, home solar power was a money-saving supplement to a household’s traditional power service. If you had a tiny home with a very small electrical footprint, then you might have been able to get most of your electricity from solar power. But anyone who lived in a larger home still had to pay the power company for most of their energy needs.


Today, the best home solar power systems are becoming more and more efficient. Unless you have one of the most advanced systems, you’ll still have to buy most of your electricity from the power company, but the ratio is getting more balanced, and it’s likely only a few more years before the balance starts tipping in favor of solar.

One approach for using solar power in the home is to use it to supply power to a specific system. For example, some people use solar power exclusively to supply energy to their hot water or heating systems, while some people have entirely solar-powered kitchens, living rooms, or pools. With a system like this, installation and maintenance is straightforward. For example, when there’s a power problem in a solar-powered hot-water system, it’s easy to identify and repair the source of the problem.

Read the rest of this entry »