Some of the reasons why you may consider renewable energy as the main source of power for your home include reducing your utility bills and your carbon footprint.
Switching to Renewable Energy
You may want to take control of the energy you consume, to no longer have to be at the mercy of national power grids or a utility company.
However, if making a complete switch to renewable energy is not yet possible, byou can try to save some money producing your own energy.
For instance you can save power through loft insulation, by using low energy bulbs (LED bulbs) and more efficient appliances, lowering your thermostat and switching off all items that are not being used.
You can also use Simply Switch to compare a few suppliers and get one that will offer you cheap deals on gas and electricity.
That being said, here are five ways to power your home using renewable energy:
1. Solar Panels
When people hear about renewable energy, the first thing that comes to mind is solar power.
This is when you install solar panels on your roof or in the yard, to harnesses the sunlight and convert it into clean energy, which can produce you enough electricity to power your entire home.
This, however, depends on whether your area gets enough sunlight during the year, and the laws regulating renewable energy installations.
When the sun is hidden behind the clouds, you can use a Tesla Powerwall, which is a battery that stores enough energy to power your entire home for several days (when you have no sunlight for a couple of days and your panels are not generating much energy).
2. Wind turbines
If you watch older movies, you might have seen those huge wind turbines in big corn farms. Smaller wind turbines can be used in your home too if you have a piece of land that gets strong winds regularly.
Wind turbines tend to be very noisy, but if you own the land and there are no laws against it, it is a very sustainable source of clean energy and passive income if the turbine produces more energy than you need.
3. Hydropower
Another amazing source of clean energy is water energy. If you are lucky enough to have a stream or a river running along your property, you can use it to generate power.
All you need is a professional to divert that water through a turbine, which will convert the kinetic power of the flowing waster into clean electricity using a generator. You need to get the relevant permits before any installation of this type.
4. Solar water heating
In some areas of the country, the law doesn’t allow solar panels and some people don’t have enough money to install solar panels to power their entire home.
In that case, you can just have solar water heating because heating water costs a fortune.
The sun will heat the tubes filled with water directly, and the heated water will run through radiators to heat the home and onto your taps and showers.
5. Biomass
The latest innovation in renewable energy is to use organic waste to generate electricity or biogas.
As biomass feedstock you can use agricultural waste, human and animal waste, scrap lumber or trash to produce energy.
There are many other ways you can power your home without using coal or the energy provided by the grid.
What is important here is to do your research and have professionals to assess your home and advice you on the best source of energy that you can use.
You can also use renewable energy together with your regular source of power to save some money.
Solar energy can help you to produce electricity to run your AC unit, but to heat water you can use the sunlight directly.
