DIY Solar For Energy Saving – Is it Feasible?
Even though there has been much talk about DIY Solar there has been very little uptake of the technology in the Domestic DIY market. A big reason for this has been a common belief that lots of sunlight is needed to make the energy savings all worthwhile! A ‘lack of sunlight’ has often been the argument of many politicians against going Solar but this argument is simply not justified. Take for example the small Danish Island of Samsoe, a place powered solely by renewable energy. On average it has about 7-8 hours of extremely weak sunlight and yet 70% of its heating requirements are met by solar energy, hay and biomass! It is true that the amount of Solar energy falling on a square meter of earth (300 Watts per square meter) is in fact quite small requiring rather large energy collectors to meet the energy needs of a typical home. However, the roof area of a typical home far exceeds the size of solar panel required to heat a home – roughly 10% the size of living area.
