| It seems like just yesterday that our electricity bill was | | | | construct three panels (3x 63 watts each) for a total |
| costing my wife and I an arm and a leg. On average | | | | of 189 watts! The next set of solar cells is on its way |
| we would pay over $80 per month on our electric bill. | | | | soon, I expect the next 3 panels will cost me much |
| In the summer, with the air conditioning running, our bill | | | | less, around $200, since many of the tools have |
| would exceed $100 with ease and was becoming | | | | already been purchased. |
| quite ridiculous! I decided to look into alternate sources, | | | | Just 189 watts worth of solar panels was significant |
| but of course there's only one; going green! | | | | enough for us to notice a drop in our electricity bill by |
| My wife and I live in Michigan so we started looking | | | | about $5 each month. It turns out you can't run your |
| into wind turbines and solar panels to power our home. | | | | home on $200 worth of solar equipment, but $200 |
| We heard some good things by word of mouth and | | | | sure can get you started. By our calculations it will cost |
| became very interested. After doing quite a lot of | | | | us another $3500 or so to power our house |
| research, it turned out that wind turbines wouldn't be | | | | completely. Considering the price of professional grade |
| worthwhile in our area, as we get little in regards to | | | | systems and installation, we'll be saving tens of |
| sustained winds. However, solar panels seemed to be | | | | thousands of dollars. |
| right up our alley. | | | | Although the initial price of the materials and tools had |
| I started looking into a complete solar powered system | | | | cost us a pretty penny, we figured out that just 5 |
| but anywhere I looked turned out to be very | | | | years we'll be 100% energy independent and won't |
| expensive. After doing the math to figure out how | | | | have to worry about another electricity bill again! For |
| much power we needed to power our home | | | | many people paying for electricity is an every-month |
| completely, it would cost us around $29,000 for a full | | | | task, for us it will come to an end, and we'll never have |
| system. The price was way over our heads and I | | | | to pay another electricity bill again! |
| was about to give up until I came across guides to | | | | The only side effect of going solar was the |
| do-it-yourself (DIY) solar power. | | | | satisfaction of doing it all ourselves and saving so |
| I was reluctant at first glance because solar panels | | | | much money. We're also satisfied to know that we're |
| seem like highly technologically advanced items. I | | | | doing our part when it comes to global warming. We'd |
| figured I'd try it out for a measly $50 compared to | | | | highly recommend DIY solar power projects for |
| $29,000. The claims are that you can build a solar | | | | anybody looking to save money or cut down on their |
| powered system for less than $200, ha! | | | | carbon emissions. In the end, the affordability and ease |
| After spending $50 on the DIY solar power guide and | | | | of building my own solar panels was more than worth |
| another $400 on the tools and parts, I was able to | | | | the effort! |