WattHackers | Save Power | Go Solar | Live Green

One of the questions I get asked frequently is what the right cost per watt is before it makes sense to install solar panels.  While endless variables make for a less than black and white answer, I can offer my opinion on what makes good fiscal sense and what I’m considering before taking the plunge.  This is the beginning of a series of posts that look at solar energy, the cost, considerations, and reasoning behind going green

[digg-me] By now you’ve read a lot in recent news about solar panels, or “modules” as they are called within the industry.  You want to slap one down on your roof, ,and tap into some free power, right?  Getting a solar module to produce power is the easy part (more on that in an upcoming [...]

When it comes to installing solar panels on your home or business, there are more choices now than ever before. Chances are good that a manufacturer is making a solar panel that will be perfect for your application; the challenge is figuring out which one to use, the proper size, voltage output, etc. There is no shortage of data out there, but real information is scattered about and confusing, so I built this guide based on the data I have collected for my own solar installation project. I hope you find the guide useful.

Right now there are some great solar tax credits and ways to reduce you taxes by making your home more efficient, but will the programs be continued beyond 2008? Here’s how to reduce your tax liability by making your home or business more efficient.

 On Sunday I posted on the new Solana Power Generating station that is being planned for an alfalfa field in central Arizona.  Three miles of solar PT1 Trough will collect the sun’s heat energy and transform it into steam; in turn powering clean energy producing turbines.  But this is not the first trip that Abengoa [...]

Solar Power With A new Twist I rarely buy the local paper because their reporting is so biased and usually quite bad.  They like to use terms like “undocumented immigrant ” instead of “illegal” and “alleged terrorist” when speaking of Osama Bin Laden.  Something is alleged when we think we know who did it.  Since [...]

I decided to put some numbers to what it would take to run our house on solar panels given our current energy demand. Currently our house is consuming an alarming 18,160 kilowatt hours (kWH) of power each year. Yes, we need to cut this a bunch, but let’s look at what it would take to power this house if we didn’t make any changes.