Thursday, June 18, 2009

Taking Advantage of Renewable Energy Technology

Renewable energy is any form of energy system that is sustainable or will not run out as a result of human use. Using fossil fuels like coal and oil simply don't qualify because they will run out. The fact that the price of these items goes up every year might indicate that these resources are running out faster than expected.

But renewable energy systems have many different guises. For instance, growing sustainable, fast growing forests is a way of providing fire wood that can be used for cooking and heating. It may not be an environmentally friendly energy system but it is renewable. The more high tech. renewable energy systems harness the energy from the wind and the Sun. These systems are more environmentally friendly but are complex and have only really become viable in the past 30 years due to technical innovations and improvement.

For the average homeowner, taking advantage of renewable energy technology these days involves getting some form of solar system or even a wind turbine. Solar systems are more applicable to the residential home because they do not take up as much space and are becoming more integrated into the grid. Creating a wind turbine that produces sufficient energy needs space and possibly the agreement of neighbors who may be against having a large structure blighting their view.

Solar systems have come down in price and there are many incentives to get solar in the home. Many countries and states offer rebates on anyone that installs a solar system (that meets an agreed criteria). Many countries and states also require that Utility companies offer a net metering system for any of their consumers that use solar power.

Net metering simply means that the utility company has to pay you a fair price for the electricity that your solar system creates. Before net metering, a utility company might buy your solar power created electricity at a wholesale price and then sell it back to you at the retail price. Leaving you out of pocket in both cases. Net metering makes solar power in the home a more economically viable proposition for the average person.



Autor: Denzil De Vries

You can make your own renewable energy systems, go to solar and wind power kits for reviews of popular manuals that show you how to do this, including a Home Made Energy review


Added: June 18, 2009
Source: http://ezinearticles.com/

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