| Of all the major energy sources such as coal, oil, | | | | If the panels you are considering purchasing are |
| natural gas, nuclear, bio and wind, the most cost | | | | damaged in any way, you might have just found |
| effective is the direct capture of power from the sun | | | | yourself the best deal on free power possible. |
| using solar panels. | | | | That's because damaged panels can frequently be |
| The main reason for this is that once solar panels are | | | | fixed with just a little TLC. |
| made and set in place, they require very little | | | | Here are the major damage items that can keep a |
| maintenance. | | | | panel from working. |
| This is because panels have no moving parts. | | | | 1. Broken glass |
| While solar panels may wear out eventually, their life | | | | 2. Condensation inside the glass |
| span is currently unknown. This is because panels that | | | | 3. Broken Frame |
| were originally manufactured in the 1980s are still | | | | 4. Bad connections |
| pumping out energy today. No one knows how long | | | | Here's the good news. All of these problems can |
| they'll last. | | | | usually be fixed with only a small effort. When you are |
| What is known is that there is a very slow degradation | | | | able to obtain damaged panels, if you do it right, you |
| in the power output of a panel over many years. For | | | | can usually get them for free or for an extremely |
| example a panel that was originally rated at 22 watts | | | | modest cost. |
| 20 years ago may put out 19 watts today. | | | | Solar panels follow the rule that one man's junk is |
| Since the cost of purchasing a used panel can often | | | | another man's treasure. |
| be a tiny fraction of the cost of a new panel, it may | | | | Where can you get used panels? One good source is |
| make sense to purchase used panels when they are | | | | eBay. Your highway department is another. Of course |
| available. | | | | you can always Google "used solar panels". |