Going green is a topic that’s gaining more traction over time. People are looking for ways to preserve the environment without interfering with the way of life. For instance, many things rely on electricity. Electricity is used to power home appliances, companies’ machines, smartphones, and others. Therefore, in going green, you need to find ways of getting power without using fossil fuels.
One alternative way of powering your home is using solar power. Apart from being environmental-friendly, solar power has other benefits. It saves on utility bills, increases your home value, and locks in your electricity rates.
Solar power also requires less maintenance, is easy to install, and is universal. Moreover, it doesn’t create room for energy loss during transmission, nor create employment.
If you’re in Oregon or Washington, products like the Smart Solar Energy home solar systems and so on might come in handy. The technicians are trained, certified, and licensed to help you make a smart switch in your home and commercial buildings.
This post, however, focuses on your home. It’ll provide you with seven steps to use as a guide to run your entire home on solar power. Continue reading to learn more.
Steps You Can Use To Run Your Entire Home On Solar Power
Below are the steps that can help you run your home on solar power:
Replace Your Light Bulbs With LEDs
One of the things that consume a lot of energy in your home is lighting. Many light bulbs don’t use electricity to produce light only. Obsolete light bulbs use only 10% of electricity to produce light while the rest is used to produce heat. Thus, if you use obsolete bulbs while running your home on solar power, you’ll need a lot of energy which isn’t guaranteed as you rely on the sun’s energy.
To minimize the amount of electricity lost in lighting, you can use LEDs instead. LEDs use 10% of the energy used by obsolete bulbs to produce a similar amount of light. Also, LEDs don’t heat up which means less of your home’s solar energy will be used on lighting, allowing it to last longer.
Have Switchable Sockets For Your Electrical Devices
What may not be known to many is electrical devices such as TVs, HiFi systems, computers, and many more consume electricity even when they aren’t in use. The more electrical devices you leave on standby, the more energy is used. Since using solar power requires you to minimize your power usage, you can consider having switchable sockets.
With these sockets, you can turn on the devices when you want to use them and turn them off when not in use. As a result, you’ll use less solar power, increasing the time you use it.
Use High-Consumption Devices During The Day
Devices such as washing machines, dishwashers, ovens, tumble dryers, and many more need a lot of electricity. Therefore, using them at any time when running on solar power can be challenging as they may use up the remaining energy, leaving you in darkness at night. To avoid such incidents, use these devices during the day, as this is when your solar generators produce a lot of output.
Nonetheless, using the said devices during the daytime may be impossible if you’re not available. In such a situation, you can choose to do your house chores in the morning or evening, depending on your convenient time. To get as much energy as possible, you can adjust your solar panels to face directions that they’ll get maximum energy.
Have Storage For Unused Energy
As stated earlier, solar panels generate a lot of energy during the day. You may not use up all the energy generated during the day. To avoid the remaining energy going to waste, you can get a solar battery that you can use as a backup source.
There are various types of batteries you can use. For instance, there are lithium-ion batteries, lead-acid deep-cycle batteries, SimpliPhi 3.5, and many more. Lithium-ion batteries have recently gained popularity as they occupy less space, they last longer, are sturdier, and are affordable.
Have Your Solar Panels Cleaned After A While
When running your home on solar power, your solar panels become part of your home. Henceforth, your commitment to cleaning your home should also be directed to your solar panels.
Over time, solar panels accumulate dust, dirt, bird dropping, and other things. The buildups prevent the solar panels from working efficiently as they minimize the amount of sunlight absorbed. Therefore, clean your panels once in a while to ensure that your home gets enough power.
Keep in mind that getting up on the roof can be risky. For your safety, you can hire professionals to come and take care of things. Moreover, the times considered best for cleaning panels are spring and autumn, so you get maximum energy during summer.
While clearing things that prevent solar panels from working effectively, you can also clear trees that cover them. Doing so will prevent trees’ shades from covering panels. Clearing trees requires professionals as well to prevent damaging your panels due to improper tree removal.
Monitor How You Use Your Solar Power
Various things influence how much power you consume in your home. For instance, weather seasons can lead to high power usage. During summer, you may consume a lot of power because you need cooling in your home. Also, you use a lot of energy during winter as you need heat to keep warm. Yet these instances are normal and unavoidable.
When it comes to other things, you can monitor your usage and find ways that’ll help you save power. For example, if you notice that some appliances have been consuming a lot of energy, you can replace them with more-efficient ones.
Lastly, Go Smart
There’s no doubt that technology has evolved. Things have been simplified thanks to this evolution. Running your home entirely on solar energy requires you to control how you use power. To make your responsibility easy, you can use smart tech for control. From your smartphone, you can switch on and off your lights, water heater, dryers, and other appliances. As a result, you’ll consume energy more efficiently.
Summing It Up
Environmentalists are fighting for ways to preserve the environment. One way of maintaining the environment is by choosing to go green. For instance, electricity is one of the most relied-on things today. You can find alternative energy sources to power your home in support of going green. In fact, you can use solar power. But to effectively use solar power in your home, there’s a way you’re expected to run your home. If you’re unsure how to do so, you can use this post to understand how to run your home on solar power.
