Horno Solar

Informations about renewable energy to save our world

Energy Efficient Custom Homes

Going green is an advocate that is rapidly becoming popular nowadays. Not only because this is becoming more practical but also because there is an impending need for us to do so. Energy consumption is one of the contributing factors that affect our environment. And one way of adhering to going green efforts is to reduce energy consumption to preserve the natural resources used to produce energy.

It is an American dream to have a house you can call as your own. And a wonderful innovation has just happened to building your dream house in the Dallas-Forth Worth area. Now you can have a house built for energy efficiency. In addition, an energy efficient home rating program was developed by a US government based organization dedicated to helping consumers save money and protect the environment by educating consumers about energy efficient products and practices.

An energy efficient home rating system measures the overall efficiency of a home and rank it based on how well it falls within the energy guidelines.

Energy efficient building practices are now being recognized by custom home builders too as a way of helping save the planet and at the same time a way to provide a cost effective housing to the people. Cost effective and non-obtrusive approach to building energy efficient, sustainable homes are now available where home shoppers are able to make an educated decision regarding the return of their energy efficient investment based on an initial study of the options available to them.

The cost or return model of the home upfront is created during the design and budget stage. A zero energy green standard house is a practical solution for home energy saving efforts.

In fact, homeowners can also now have documentation of their home energy savings with testing and government based certificates. This way the homeowners in the Dallas Forth Worth area with the house that has higher energy efficiency not only save money on their energy bill, but also give their home a higher value.

Share
posted by admin in energy efficiency and have Comment (1)

Solar Homes Can Save You Money

Article by Johnny Solar

Solar homes, solar businesses, solar cars, solar factories, etc, this is the future, this is where our country needs to head, it widely known and well excepted that solar energy is clean, efficient and very cost effective. We just need to step up the implementation of making our every day life dependent on solar power and not fossil fuels, we have solar panels, electric cars, companies, factories but we still need to do more, we need to increase the number of these facilities and modes of travel, where this is the majority and not the minority.

What the smart ones are doing

Property owners are taking advantage of generous tax credits by adding energy efficient components to their homes and nearby structures. Some homeowners add solar arrays to their roofs, while others add them to their garages. It doesn’t matter if the building is newly constructed homes or decades old because skilled installers can retrofit solar panels and arrays to accommodate any home with southern exposure. Here are a few examples of how the arrays might look on your home.

What about two story homes?

The Northern California Solar Energy Association, in its glossary, defines natural convection as “A method of heat transfer where a fluid (liquid, gas or molten metal) picks up heat from one object and carries it to another by currents that result from the rising of lighter, warm fluid and the sinking of heavier, cool fluid. The two objects exchanging energy don’t have to physically touch. Convection is the source of the ‘wind chill factor’ and the ‘cooling breeze’ we experience outdoors and the ‘draft’ we feel often feel while indoors.” In a two-story passive solar house with open spaces, warm air will rise to the top. The house can be designed to take advantage of this form of natural convection in order to cool the house using passive methods.

Frederick Bernard, the owner of Acorn Builders, a custom home designer, builder, and remodeler, says, “In a lot of these types of homes, you see what’s called a heat chimney. It’s like a cupola with vents in it. It can be made with operable windows so that you can open them at night and the heat will leave the house and draw in the cooler outdoor air. That’s a passive way to cool a house.”

The green-rated.org website, a project of Portland’s Office of Sustainable Development, says, “When warm air rises and leaks out at the top of a building, cooler air is drawn in at the bottom. Openings and spaces, such as atriums, can be designed to encourage this type of flow. A heat chimney is a device that uses the sun to heat air to create convection. An example of such a device is a cupola on top of a house.”

The Office of Sustainable Development cites the People’s Food Co-op in Portland as an example of a building that successfully uses a heat chimney. The Co-op “installed a chimney stack to help cool their building using natural ventilation. The stack was installed as one component of an well-integrated heating and cooling system that eliminated the need for mechanical cooling.” Another Portland example is Ode to Roses, where the designer constructed the building “to take advantage of heat rising and consequently avoided the need to mechanically cool the building. The owner strategically installed a multi-purpose clerestory (or monitor) on the second floor that drastically increases daylight penetration and serves as a hot air outlet when perimeter outlets are opened.”

You can also use active methods, such as traditional air-conditioning, to help equalize the temperature differences between the first and second stories of a two-story passive solar house. Bernard says, “It’s all in the design of the system. You can design your two-story house with an air-conditioning system so that it distributes more cool air to the upper floors or draws the heat from the top floors and cools it, then distributes it back to the lower floors or draws heat from your upper floors and sends it back into your lower floors so that your upper floors aren’t hotter than your lower floors. These are ways to make sure your top floors aren’t always hotter than your bottom floors. You need to rely on your heating and cooling contractor for that.”

Bernard adds, “Some cities, like Austin, have rebate programs for sealing and insulating your home to hold a more constant temperature and make it more energy efficient.”

About the Author

http://www.SuccessSolarGroup.orgJohnny SolarBorn in Phoenix, AZSolar soluton developer

Energy Corporation AssociationAffilated Green Earth Guide

Interested in solar panels for your home? Got an idea for a solar powered custom project? Need an estimate on installing a solar powered hot water system? Contact the Success Solar Group. Simply click GET STARTED and be on your way. What are you waiting for? Click GET STARTED now!go to http://www.successsolar.org

Share
posted by admin in solar advantages and have Comments Off

Solar Energy Facts | the Future of Australian Homes and Cities

If you compare the dimension of the earth to the sun, you can comfortably fit over 1 million Earths inside it! If you are fascinated by the force of the earth’s gravity then beware of the colossal sun’s gravitational pull; the enormous pressure pulverises molecules, breaking them up into smaller components, and this breakdown produces a great deal of energy combined with other molecular components, which reaches the earth in 8.3 minutes in the form of sunlight. – Then the magic starts!

The sunlight carries two types of energy; the 1st is the light energy, which can then be manipulated by the solar panels to produce electricity, and the 2nd is heat energy which used by the solar hot water systems to produce a continuous flow of hot water.

The major challenge that we face with solar energy is that the sunlight isn’t available for 24 hours and even in the daytime continuous supply isn’t guaranteed, due to many factors. However countries like Australia are blessed with more than enough sunlight strength to provide useful energy production in summer even on cloudy days. The growth of solar technology has been rapid; if you turn your clock back a few decades ago, harnessing the sun’s energy wasn’t possible in any way, but today we have solar PV technology as the prime carrier of solar energy’s viability.

Australia is one of the leading nations in solar technological advances. Not only do we have perfect climatic conditions, but also the geographical capabilities and knowledge; Australia gave birth to the top solar scientist in world! But one major disadvantage to our widespread use of solar technology was the very size of our country and the logistical difficulties to overcome because of that, and so our earlier advancements got bogged down due to financial difficulties and other countries soon overtook us.

Fortunately though in the last couple of years extensive Government funding combined with technological breakthroughs has made solar energy much cheaper to obtain and so more accessible to every householder. Also  rapid improvements in manufacturing technology means it’s now possible to have much better power generation from the same size of panel system, so that an average roof space is more likely to be able to produce enough power to cover a considerable portion of your existing electricity bill.

Aside from household Solar use becoming more and more widespread, the really exciting news for both our environment and the Australian economy are the large commercial aspects now being pursued;  huge scale commercial solar power parks are being established in an attempt to generate the massive clean energy production necessary for large corporations to be able to bypass our dependence on traditional fossil fuel “dirty” energy sources, mainly coal.

This is where the proposed Carbon Tax will be hugely influential as it is designed to make it cheaper for industry and corporations to purchase clean renewable solar energy using “Solar Credits” then to continue to use electricity produced via dirty energy…….we will have to wait and see exactly what happens in Parliament for that one, but certainly this scheme or something similar seems  the only likely way for Australia to meet their emission target requirements for 2020.

Share
posted by admin in solar energy and have Comments Off

Why are solar energy systems ideal for Danville homes and commercial set-ups?

Solar electric systems are believed to be the best eco-friendly electric systems for residential and commercial set ups in Danville, East Bay, San Ramon, Walnut Creek, and other parts of California. The solar electric systems can be used to power homes or businesses. By virtue of using this natural form of energy, the solar electric systems help reduce the dependency on non-renewable energy forms like gas, oil, and other fuels. It helps households and businesses to participate actively in energy conservation.

Solar electric systems in Danville can easily meet varied domestic and commercial energy requirements. Solar panels are able to tap the maximum amount of solar energy and utilize it for powering anything you can plug into an outlet. Depending on your solar electric system, the energy generated which is not used can be stored in large batteries.

Solar electric panels generate what can be termed as “green energy” as they do not release carbon dioxide and other harmful substances in to the air. This helps home owners and industries contribute towards reducing their carbon footprint in the environment, thereby reducing global warming and air pollution.

Solar power systems offer an economical energy solution to households and commercial set ups who are tired of ever increasing energy costs. Solar energy systems can help reduce electricity bills by almost 60-70% and thereby save a good amount of money for the users. Moreover, the Government pays for upto 45% of the initial cost and after installation, you can enjoy free energy with very small initial costs.

If you wish to enjoy the benefits offered by solar electric systems, buy a solar system today. There are several stores that sell solar electric systems. Some of them even provide professional installation services for residential and commercial set ups to let the users get the most out of their solar electric systems.

If you are wondering where you can buy the highest quality solar electric systems at competitive rates, please visit diablosolar.com. Diablo Solar is a leading provider of high quality solar power panels in Danville, East Bay, San Ramon and solar energy systems in Walnut Creek at attractive rates.

Share
posted by admin in solar energy and have Comments Off

Solar Homes Can Save You Money

Solar Homes Can Save You Money

 

Solar homes, solar  businesses, solar cars, solar factories, etc, this is the future, this is where our country needs to head, it widely known and well excepted that solar energy is clean, efficient and very cost effective.  We just need to step up the implementation of making our every day life dependent on solar power and not fossil fuels, we have solar panels, electric cars, companies, factories but we still need to do more, we need to increase the number of these facilities and modes of travel, where this is the majority and not the minority.

 

What the smart ones are doing

 

Property owners are taking advantage of generous tax credits by adding energy efficient components to their homes and nearby structures. Some homeowners add solar arrays to their roofs, while others add them to their garages. It doesn’t matter if the building is newly constructed homes or decades old because skilled installers can retrofit solar panels and arrays to accommodate any home with southern exposure. Here are a few examples of how the arrays might look on your home.

 

What about two story homes?

 

The Northern California Solar Energy Association, in its glossary, defines natural convection as “A method of heat transfer where a fluid (liquid, gas or molten metal) picks up heat from one object and carries it to another by currents that result from the rising of lighter, warm fluid and the sinking of heavier, cool fluid. The two objects exchanging energy don’t have to physically touch. Convection is the source of the ‘wind chill factor’ and the ‘cooling breeze’ we experience outdoors and the ‘draft’ we feel often feel while indoors.” In a two-story passive solar house with open spaces, warm air will rise to the top. The house can be designed to take advantage of this form of natural convection in order to cool the house using passive methods.

 

Frederick Bernard, the owner of Acorn Builders, a custom home designer, builder, and remodeler, says, “In a lot of these types of homes, you see what’s called a heat chimney. It’s like a cupola with vents in it. It can be made with operable windows so that you can open them at night and the heat will leave the house and draw in the cooler outdoor air. That’s a passive way to cool a house.”

The green-rated.org website, a project of Portland’s Office of Sustainable Development, says, “When warm air rises and leaks out at the top of a building, cooler air is drawn in at the bottom. Openings and spaces, such as atriums, can be designed to encourage this type of flow. A heat chimney is a device that uses the sun to heat air to create convection. An example of such a device is a cupola on top of a house.”

The Office of Sustainable Development cites the People’s Food Co-op in Portland as an example of a building that successfully uses a heat chimney. The Co-op “installed a chimney stack to help cool their building using natural ventilation. The stack was installed as one component of an well-integrated heating and cooling system that eliminated the need for mechanical cooling.” Another Portland example is Ode to Roses, where the designer constructed the building “to take advantage of heat rising and consequently avoided the need to mechanically cool the building. The owner strategically installed a multi-purpose clerestory (or monitor) on the second floor that drastically increases daylight penetration and serves as a hot air outlet when perimeter outlets are opened.”

You can also use active methods, such as traditional air-conditioning, to help equalize the temperature differences between the first and second stories of a two-story passive solar house. Bernard says, “It’s all in the design of the system. You can design your two-story house with an air-conditioning system so that it distributes more cool air to the upper floors or draws the heat from the top floors and cools it, then distributes it back to the lower floors or draws heat from your upper floors and sends it back into your lower floors so that your upper floors aren’t hotter than your lower floors. These are ways to make sure your top floors aren’t always hotter than your bottom floors. You need to rely on your heating and cooling contractor for that.”

Bernard adds, “Some cities, like Austin, have rebate programs for sealing and insulating your home to hold a more constant temperature and make it more energy efficient.”

Related Solar Advantages Articles

Share
posted by admin in solar advantages and have Comments Off

Ideas for Achieving Energy Efficient Homes

With all costs on the rise, adding up to the already huge problem with the New York housing crunch and worldwide economic woes; more and more people are searching of ways to cutback on costs.  In our homes, one of the largest shares where our hard-earned budget goes to is the energy bill, thus making the efficient use of energy a great way to reduce monthly expenses.    With that said, let us look into superb ideas to achie Read more…

Share
posted by admin in energy efficiency and have Comments Off