The cost of a solar system to power or heat your home can run anywhere from a few thousand dollars to $50,000 or more. The wide range of investment required is the result of many factors.
The amount of sunlight received in different areas varies considerably. Some places like Santa Fe, New Mexico get sunshine an [...]

One of the hurdles any homeowner considering solar generated power has always faced is the high upfront cost. Powering the average home using the sun’s energy requires fairly large solar panels. Most panel systems cover most of the south facing roof of the house. But the cost of the panels alone can easily be around [...]

We all want to do our part to save energy, but time and money often prevent us from making energy-efficient home improvements. If we lack the time to research such projects and the funds to complete them, they tend to remain on our never-ending “things-to-do” list.
While Energy Star products like appliances and windows significantly reduce [...]

Where’s the best place to start improving the environment? “Right in your own back yard,” says Den Gardner, executive director of Project EverGreen, “and don’t forget your front yard as well.”
Gardner is talking about a growing “grassroots” effort by Project EverGreen to focus homeowners on improving their own personal green space. “It’s important to realize [...]

How can you make your community more responsible for reducing waste and preventing global climate change? How can you help residents save money at the same time?
“Pay-As-You-Throw” (PAYT) is a trash collection rate-setting system that promotes economic savings and environmental benefits. Environmentally conscious communities have been using this holy grail of environmental solutions since the [...]

Using solar cell arrays to produce electricity is a now-familiar application. Most applications that use PV (photovoltaic) modules are still small scale, except for certain experimental stations trying to generate power at the level of utility companies. Still, everything from lawn lights to full power supply systems for homes are available.
But there’s another way of [...]

The image of a large, dark-blue panel atop a rooftop supplying solar-powered electricity is now familiar. Though relatively few homes have them, thousands of magazine stories have been written over the past 30 years accompanied by photos depicting them. Because of their relative rarity, such systems have become regarded as ‘the wave of the future’, [...]

Though the claims of enthusiasts are sometimes overstated, it’s still true that solar power and alternative energy forms are viable and valuable. They’re low-pollution generating, even accounting for manufacturing effects to make the components. They are, in principle, inexhaustible sources of energy. And, those forms of energy don’t require looking to unstable countries to supply [...]

Solar power technology has been around in some form or another for thousands of years. Even many modern solar device designs are now decades old. Yet, they have not fulfilled the promise that many hoped. Why? Two reasons: efficiency and cost.
Of the approximately 1,000 watts per square meter of sunlight power falling on the surface [...]

When most people think of solar power they imagine large, dark blue panels supplying electricity to a home or business. And that’s certainly one very popular application. But there are other ways to harness the energy of the sun. Solar heating is one, and its roots actually go much further back than the use of [...]