Category Archives: Solar Power

How To Choose Solar Landscape Lighting?

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When you take a good look around your garden, you may find that there’s so much you can do to make it look better. Among all others, you could consider landscaping your garden. This is a project that’ll make your garden instantly look lovelier. And then, going even further beyond that is landscape lighting. That way, even at night, the beauty of your landscape will still be visible. It’s a great way to make your garden look elegant and homey.

However, as much as this is nice to have, maintaining and switching on solar lights the whole night could be costly. Apart from sprucing up your home, you’ll also want your household to be eco-friendly. Thankfully, solar lights now exist to make this endeavor of yours achievable.

But with the wide range of options out in the market today, how do you choose the right solar landscape lighting for your garden? This article has you covered.

solar-landscape-lighting

1. Match The Light With Its Purpose

First of all, your chosen solar landscape lights should serve the purpose that you intend for it to do. You can choose from three of the most common categories of solar lights, according to use, in the garden. They are:

a. Decorative Accent Lights

These lights are meant to highlight certain features of your garden that you want to illuminate at night. These are usually made of multi-crystalline solar cells that enable them to charge even on a cloudy day. These are also great for sections in your garden with shaded areas such as trees, as these kinds of lights can stay lit for long.

b. Spot Lights

This kind of light has more of a safety feature beyond the decorative vibe it gives. More than anything, the best outdoor solar spot lights are used to mark landscape hazards, including steps on your garden or any rock formation that could potentially be a hazard.

c. Path Lights

These are used for lighting up driveways, walkways, and pathways.

2. Consider The Look You’re After

Another factor to consider when you’re thinking about some of the most popular options is the look you want for your garden or landscape. If you aspire to create a unique landscape that’s not seen often, you will probably want to select some of the more elaborate options available. Technology has also brought forth new designs of these solar lights, so you only need to take your pick according to your preference.

3. Inspect The Manner Of Mounting

Another thing to think about when it comes to some of these popular choices is how they can be mounted. For example, some lights can be mounted right onto your plants, while others require you to mount them directly onto the ground.

If you’re thinking about landscape lights that can be installed directly onto the ground, you’ll need to consider the plants or trees that they will illuminate. Take a good look around your garden to see if you have the appropriate plants around for specific light mounts.

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Some plants also prefer being on the ground rather than hung on the air, so they may require a completely different type of lighting design than you originally intended. Try to find options that would fit this exterior plan of your home.

4. Read Through Reviews Online

Before you even head out to shop, it’s better if you’ve already done prior research online. You might be confused about many options if you don’t know what you want. When window-shopping online, you’ll immediately acquire valuable information like the following:

  • Pictures of how these lights are used in actual gardens
  • Price range
  • Customer reviews
  • Quality

It’s a great idea to shop around and get as much information as possible on the lights you’re considering. If you do your homework, you’ll be able to choose the best solar lights for your backyard.

5. Check Basic Feature Must-haves

Regardless of the type of solar landscape lighting you’ll purchase and the purpose it serves in your garden, there are certain features you should also take extra care to notice among all your options. These features should be present for you to know that you’re bringing home a good quality item:

  • It comes with high-grade glass panels, so they won’t crack and turn cloudy;
  • It has advanced circuitry, so it can store light and charge even when the sky is dark;
  • It uses top-of-the-line batteries or ‘next-generation batteries’ to ensure that it has more charges than ordinary solar landscape lights.

Conclusion

With the vast number of options available today for solar landscape lighting, choosing the best one might prove challenging. But remember that one of the most important aspects of having a beautiful landscape garden is the light system you choose to install. So, you’ll want to make sure that you choose wisely. These are just some of the tips you can take with you when searching for a system that’ll work for your landscape.

Pros and Cons of Buying and Doing a DIY Solar Panel Installation

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There’s a number of reasons why people invest in solar energy through solar panel installations on either their homes or other buildings. For some, they want their energy consumption to reduce their carbon footprint and make sure they live environmentally friendly. For others, they may want a power source they can use just in case the power were to shut off for a long period, or may want to earn tax incentives for going green.

But whichever reason you have, you have a choice between buying from a professional solar panel installation company, and going the DIY route. There are a few pros and cons to doing a DIY solar panel installation.

solar-energy-diy

Pro: You Can Determine Where And How You Want Your Solar Energy

If you have the time to design and build your own solar energy system, you can decide how you want it built and where you want it placed. One of the keys is buying solar panels for either on-grid or off-grid use, because that determines a lot in the scope of your installation.

But if you’re willing to take on the rigors of the installation, you’ll have the satisfaction of seeing solar power going to the areas of your property where you want.

Pro: There Is Some Savings You Can Get

Yes, getting DIY solar panels can save you some money, though it may not be as much as you want. The main area of savings is in the design and labor costs since you’re handling these yourself, but there can still be other costs you incur while taking the project on. For example, you may need storage or battery backups in some cases that may be a hidden cost. Still, you can usually save about a minimum of 10%-20% in overall costs by going DIY.

According to the experts at Unbound Solar, “Even if you extend your payback period by taking out a loan to finance your project, you still enjoy reduced electricity costs from the moment you flip the switch on your PV system.”

Con: Not All DIY Solar Panels Can Be Used On The Grid

While there are a few cases where you can install your own solar panels and remain connected to your utility provider, not all solar systems are designed for that. And some local governments have laws about what kind of solar panels and installations can be done that remain grid-tied. You’ll want to do research on whether you can do this before getting started.

Con: DIY Installation Can Be Quite Complex

While getting your own solar panel kit and building it yourself sounds easy enough, the process can be very intense and require a lot more know-how from the consumer than they might realize. Plus, there are tasks that need to be completed and signed off on by a certified electrician if your solar panels are going to be grid-tied, so you need to be aware of that. It’s usually going to require heavy duty tools and take some man power to get the system installed perfectly.

At the end of the day, installing your own solar panels can allow you to save a lot of money on energy, or get power to areas that it would be difficult to with a utility provider. But if you’re new to installing a solar panel system, you need to carefully consider the cost in both time and money to do it.

Will Solar Roadways Ever Be Possible?

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In the United States, the primary mode of transport is cars — and when you have many people driving, you need a lot of road. In total, there are around four million miles of paved road in the United States. According to one estimate, that’s more than 13,000 square miles of paved land.

These roads have a big impact on their local environment before, during and after construction. First, there’s a carbon cost to laying asphalt. After construction, when it rains, the impervious surface of the road can carry polluted rainwater directly to storm drains — where the water will run off into the environment.

There’s also evidence that expanding roads encourages people to drive more often, increasing emissions over time.

Without a major shift in the U.S., these roads are likely to stick around well into the future. As a result, environmentalists and engineers want to find ways to take advantage of all that open space and offset some of the environmental cost of roads.

solar-highway

Solar roadways — roads outfitted with special solar panels — have arisen as one possible solution to reduce the environmental impact of roads. If you outfit all these roads with solar energy, you can use that paved land to generate energy. At first glance, it looks like a good idea — but would it work in practice?

Why People Are Interested in Solar Roadways

While solar roadway technology has been theoretically possible for a while, interest in the idea has grown significantly over the past decade. This new interest is likely due in part to the growing availability of new solar technology like home solar systems and batteries.

Changes in road materials may have also made the idea seem more practical. In recent years, rising asphalt prices have many cities turning to concrete for their roads. Concrete is somewhat tougher and more durable than asphalt, meaning concrete roads may be a better candidate for projects like solar roadways, where damage to the road could loosen or destroy embedded solar panels.

Growing knowledge about the environmental impact of travel by car may have also inspired recent interest in solar road projects. After all, if we can find a way to make roads eco-friendly, we won’t need to worry as much about their potential long-term effects on the climate and the environment.

The Challenges to Overcome

No one has attempted a large-scale solar roadway yet — but the first few experimental applications of the technology have not yielded encouraging results.

The Wattway solar road project, built in the Normandy region of France in 2016, lined a full kilometer (0.62 miles) of road with 2,800 photovoltaic solar panels. The project engineers designed panels coated with a special resin containing silicone. The company behind Wattway said the resin was strong enough to protect the panels from the weight of an eighteen-wheeler.

While sound in theory, the project was a disaster in practice. The resin was able to mostly protect the panels from traffic at first, but the sound created by cars passing over the panels was so loud that the village had to limit local speed limits to just over 40 miles per hour.

Three years after installation, there are solar panels peeling off the road and the protective resin is splintered and shattered in many places.

In terms of energy production, the project was also a bust. While solar panels are decent energy sources in well-lit regions of the world, Normandy only sees around 44 days of full sunlight every year. The region’s strong weather, in addition to potentially damaging the panels, further limited the power the panels could collect.

wattway-solar-road-project

On one hand, the Wattway project may seem like a failure of planning. The choice of region, road and materials were all suboptimal. The combination of these mistakes could easily have been enough to sink the project.

However, the Wattway project also shows the serious challenges that engineers will overcome to make solar roadways and other “solar surfaces” workable. To start with, designers will need to use panel materials that are strong, resilient to traffic without generating too much noise and easy to maintain. Project planners will also have to select the right region for the roadway and find a road with the right angle towards the sun for maximum energy production.

What Will Future Solar Technology Look Like?

Growing demand for clean sources of energy will prompt engineers and designers to continue searching for new applications for solar panels. Solar roadways, however, seem likely to remain theoretical in the near future. The challenges of road-ready solar panels and the limited amount of suitable area will probably mean that solar engineers will look elsewhere before turning to projects like a solar panel highway.

Factors to Consider Before Subscribing to Community Solar

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So you’ve heard of community solar and are now thinking of subscribing to one. Naturally, you want to know if you are qualified for a solar farm subscription. In this article, we will discuss factors that you need to consider before you sign up for a community solar program.

What is Community Solar?

Community solar or shared solar is one of the biggest renewable energy trends to have emerged in the past decade. Compared to residential solar which is mostly individualistic, a community solar project allows several neighboring households to tap into a single solar farm installation.

what-is-community-solar

Instead of installing panels on residential roofs or backyards, solar farm owners set them up at a central location like an open field or even an open body of water. Since it is subscription-based, you will simply receive a portion of the solar energy generated by these farms. Usually, this power will be coursed through your existing power lines, which means you don’t have to get any new gear just to enjoy your subscription. Sounds promising, right?

Am I Qualified for a Subscription?

Just like traditional solar panels, though, community solar programs are not for everyone. Here are some factors that make you a great candidate for community solar:

1. Your utility provider has a solar project

A lot of local energy providers own or manage their own solar farms. This way, you can buy in and ‘fund’ the community project in exchange for rebates in your monthly energy bill. Supporting these utility-sponsored projects will allow you to reduce your own electricity costs while helping your provider reach their goals in terms of building a more balanced energy portfolio.

Check with your utility provider if they have such a project. If they do, then chances are you are automatically qualified to subscribe to it.

2. You live near a solar farm

Utility providers are not the only entities that can own and manage solar farms. Private companies, non-profit organizations, and even local government units can run shared solar projects that you can easily subscribe to.

Sometimes, members of the actual community come together to pitch in the capital for the solar farm, making it purely community-owned and for the benefit of the general public.

In any case, it is required that you live close enough to a solar farm for a viable subscription.

3. You can’t put up solar panels at home

One of the most important considerations when choosing your solar-generating system of choice is feasibility. PV panels will require you to have ample space at home, not to mention the authority to make such installations on the roof (or even on the ground surrounding your house.)

More often than not, you will not be allowed to make modifications to a rented house, even if it’s for something as beneficial as a solar panel system. In this case, subscribing to a community solar program would be your best bet.

solar-powered-home

Even if you live in your own house, though, solar panels may not always be suitable. Not all roofs can accommodate those installations. If your area gets more shade than sunlight, sourcing your solar energy from a shared solar garden might still be the most cost-efficient solution.

4. You move a lot

Flexibility is a prime benefit of having a community solar subscription, as opposed to investing in your own solar system at home. If the nature of your job or lifestyle is that it requires you to move a lot, it just won’t be practical to invest in your own panels because of the sheer effort it would take you to uninstall, transport, and install them all over again with every move.

Going for a solar farm subscription will give you more flexibility when moving since it’s typically easy to suspend or cancel your subscription to one and just subscribe to a different project that’s nearer the place where you’re moving. It’s also a great way to maintain environmental sustainability with every move.

If any or all four of these factors are attendant in your case, then you already know that you possess the golden opportunity to try out a community solar program and see how it works out for you.

Solar-Powered Pumps are Game-Changing for Agriculture

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The first thing that comes to mind when you hear solar power is a solar panel placed on a rooftop for creating electricity for commercial or residential use. However, solar power has another important function – to mine and deliver water to improve productivity. This is especially applicable in sunny nations like Australia and most countries in Africa since its main industry is agriculture. Still, their productivity is suffering since their fields don’t get sufficient irrigation. Though, using solar pumps, they can double or even triple their profits. These economic gains can improve the lives of many farming communities.

Importance of Water in Agriculture

Our lives depend on clean water. The developed countries can sometimes take water for granted, but the evolving economies understand the significance of this commodity. A solar pump is an ecological option to get water for the crops and deliver drinkable, clean water.

The founder and CEO of the British-American company Ignite Power, Yariv Cohen, confirmed that solar pumps brought more efficiency, leading to bigger disposable income and more employment. Farmers can now grow three seasons per year instead of one. So, disposable income increased by 20% to 30%.

60% of the Sub-Saharan Africa population is employed in agriculture. Therefore, agriculture is accountable for 60% of economic output. This is less productive than the other regions in the world since only a part of the farmland gets constant irrigation – just 6% across Africa. Most farmlands go without irrigation, so most farmers in Africa rely only on rain for the larger lands, while they take care of the smaller areas with manual effort.

What is Solar-Powered Pumping System

The solar-powered pumping systems include a solar panel array, which fuels an electric motor. The motor, in turn, fuels the surface pump. The water is pumped from the stream or ground into a storage tank, utilized to water crops. If the farmland is irrigated consistently with solar pumps, the farmers will double the production compared to farmlands irrigated by rainwater or with manual effort.

Life-changing mechanism

About 600 million who live in Africa don’t have consistent electricity access. This is damaging the economic health of the continent. Everyone knows the ideal solution is to expand the electrical grid, but financial and geographical considerations prevent that. Ignite Power provides off-grid solutions to African countries in rural places like Nigeria, Mozambique, Rwanda, and Sierra Leone.

Cohen explains how solar pumps allow the farmers to irrigate their lands by using the sun. They first connect the homes, and then they utilize the same solar panels to water the fields. Using solar power, the pump enables a big area to be regularly irrigated. This improves the yield affordably.

Ignite Power has 1.1 million customers in Africa. So, there is room for enormous growth for his company and other providers of solar power in the continent. Cohen aims to reach 500 million houses.

They work with the bank and try to find the ideal solutions. They want to provide the best solution for the country with the help of the government. They can connect any payment providers or manufacturers to their system. They can connect all the suppliers, so many people could join.

The case of the two Rwandan women Grace Uwas (23) and Tharcille Tuyisenge (20) is admirable. They started working with Cohen’s company and bought solar systems for homes in Rwamagana, so people there have sustainable and safe electricity. Until now, they have installed twenty-five solar systems and more are coming!

Bottom Line

Electricity is the quintessence for any country. The solar power is game changing for African evolving communities to get access. In this way, they won’t just keep their lights on, but their agricultural productivity will be improved.