Getting the Most out of a Home and Garden

Solar Solutions for Your Home

Using solar power around your home means saving money on your power bills and also reducing pollution, as the turbines used to create electricity give off quite a number of emissions and fumes. You may not have the budget for full solar panels for your house and may not have the room to install those large panels on your roof, but you can still use solar panels that are connected to certain areas of the home in particular. Note a few of those here so you can discuss them with an installer as needed.

1. Heat pumps

Heat pumps work to move heat from one area to another; they typically pull heat up from the ground and then deliver it into your home. Some might also create heated air with hot coils over which air flows, like a space heater or hair dryer. These heat pumps can often be installed with solar panels rather than wired to your home's electricity, so that the pumps work from the solar power or the solar power is used to heats the coils. In either case, you are then not using electricity to run a standard furnace during wintertime.

2. Water heaters

A solar water heater will use solar power to heat coils that sit under a standing tank of water or to heat air that is blown around an interior tank of water, keeping that water warm. In both cases, you can reduce or eliminate your energy consumption for hot water with these smaller solar panels, many of which are small enough to sit right on your lawn or side of the house.

3. Landscaping and lawns

Your exterior lighting can be powered through solar panels that are wired to these lights in particular. Many individual lights come with built-in solar panels that collect light during the day, or you can have an entire set of outdoor lights wired into one larger solar panel. Your sprinkler system and its timer can also be wired to a solar panel so that you don't use electricity to keep your lawn watered.

4. Pool heaters and pumps

The heater and pump to your pool both need a power source, and both can be wired into a solar panel. Since you only use your pool during the warm summer months, you don't need to worry about how the pump or heater will collect energy during the wintertime and will always have a warm and clean pool without the added cost of running this equipment.


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