The devastating effects of fossil fuels and coal plants are what pushes solar to be one of the main sources of green energy in the near future. This will happen on the larger utility-scale, but also among individual people, in buildings and home across the globe. Utilizing the advantages of solar energy in your house will yield you the following benefits:

Reducing Your Carbon Footprint

There’s no doubt that solar power for homes is a clean way to harness energy. If you generate your own green electricity from the sunlight, you are saving yourself the necessity of relying on utility electricity that is built on a foundation of coal and fossil fuels. Some people actually sell their self-generated green electricity back to the electrical power grid, which also can be looked upon as reducing your own carbon footprint.

Some Solar Panels Look Good

While there’s a lot of ugly solar systems out there, manufacturers has come up with a lot of neat and stylish ways to integrate solar in your home. The latest technologies are based in a category we call building integrated photovoltaic, methods that revolves around the idea of integrating solar cells 100% with the building blocks of a house.These are solar shingles; the actual roof is made up of PV components. On the other hand, this is a bit more expensive than your traditional crystalline panel. Not to say that these installation can’t look good.

Become Energy Self-Sufficient

If you have enough solar cells to generate all your energy needs, you could theoretically disconnect from the grid. However, this requires a rather large bank of batteries, to store the amount of electricity that you are generating. Solar energy is a fluctuating energy source in terms of whether the sunlight is available or not. Becoming energy self-sufficient is achievable, but you should realistically look at integrating solutions such as geothermal heat pumps and residential wind turbines if this is your goal.

Cut Costs

While saving costs by buying a solar system might be a long stretch (at least in most parts of the world), it is actually possible. While in some areas, it might be the only way to go. Off-grid systems allows for power generation in places that are so distant from power lines that extending them would be more costly. If you are just starting out in the solar field another way to save on costs is by utilizing DIY solar panels. And of course learning to do your own solar panel installation will not only save you on the cost but will be a great way to learn how the system works.

Read more about energy self-sufficiency on the following URL: http://energyinformative.org.