Cost of Solar Panels

If you are interested in powering your home with renewable energy you will probably be shocked by the cost of solar panels and their cost of installation. An article in the Independent newspaper in the UK reported that solar panels are one of the least cost effective methods of renewable energy. The report states that it can take up to 100 years to pay back the cost of their installation. If you then take into account that solar panels only have a life expectancy of around 30 years then it hardly seems worthwhile to convert your home to use solar panels. The report concludes that there are no circumstances under which you will ever see a return on your investment. Instead it recommends that you insulate your lofts and cavity walls instead. Although this report has come under some criticism, the best solution that its opponents could come up with still required 25 years to see a return on investment. So even with the best case scenario it is the equivalent of paying for 25 years of electricity up front. However this report on the cost of solar panels does did not make any mention of how cheap it is to actually make your own solar panels. With the right information and easily obtainable materials you can bring the cost of solar panels down to an affordable level of less than $200 per panel. At these prices you won’t have to wait very long at all to see a return on your investment. In addition the satisfaction of freeing yourself from expensive electricity bills and the reliance upon utility companies for your needs will easily justify the investment. With the prices of commercial solar energy solutions as high as they are they can only really be justified for environmental reasons. But for most people that won’t be sufficient justification for their extremely large investment which is unlikely to ever be returned. A product called Earth4Energy can change all this by showing you how to make you own solar panels and even shows you how to make your own wind turbine. The amount of solar panels that you require will depend on the size of your home. You can start off if your wish by creating just a few solar panels to minimize the cost of your electricity bill. Over time you can add more solar panels to reduce your bills still further. Solar power is definitely a feasible solution for most home owners seeking to use cheap renewable energy. But it is only going to be feasible in most cases to make the system yourself as the cost of solar panels is so much cheaper this way. If you are able to produce your more electricity than you consume it pays to still be connected to the grid as the power companies will often buy your surplus electricity from you.