Outdoor Solar Lights

Our house is 2,589 sq ftt our gross living area is 1,326. We have skylights through out so day electric is basically covered. Other than appliances t.v etc… (most of the time we work so most elect. is off)
I converted all my lights over to the high effiency 9 watts per bulb. I am looking into adding solar panels to the house to help the enviroment & also save on rising cost.
Could I convert my house over to solar electricity & heat/hotwater as well. How much do you think a project like this would run?

Conserving as you are doing is a great first step. You can easily make your own solar panels. It is something that is done throughout the world.

It takes less than $200 to make one and anyone can do it. There are manuals that you can purchase with step by step illustrated instructions. It is much easier to do than most people realize. See http://www.makerenewableenergy.blogspot.com for a list of these manuals with a review.

It’s something you can make as you have time and money to do. You can add to them at any time. Start with a few and reduce your bills… then work towards fulfilling all of your needs. You can also add in some wind turbines if your area of the country would support them.

Good luck

I’m referring to green as in, a green energy efficient house, car, lighting, solar power, etc.

Absolutely not. They use a lot of energy for the amount of light they produce (3 times as much as a compact fluorescent), they don’t have a long life (only a few months versus several years for fluorescent) so the bulbs end up as trash AND they produce a lot of heat which add to air conditioning loads. The only reasonable use of halogen quartz is in areas (like theaters) where high light levels need to be dimmed down and for purposes like art and merchandise displays where a pure white light is preferred.

Currently, fluorescent and HID lighting (like high-pressure sodium and metal halide) are the best we have for low energy use, long life and low residual heat but they are still not ideal because of the chemicals (including trace mercury) and the disposable power ballasts that they contribute to the waste stream. It is hoped that technology will give us increasingly better options in the future.

This summer my friend and I really got into the whole going green thing. We have recycled even more, planted a tree, hugged trees (lol), and started doing those small things around the house. I love helping out with the environment and since school is starting I want my school to go green. How can I make this idea expand and work? I have thought of putting recycling bins outside and have small bins in classes. Also maybe turining off lights to conserve energy. Is it expensive to get solar panels for the school. My middle school did it, but i honestly do not know how. If you have any ideas to help me out that would be great.

Go to the class President and President of the Student Body and get them envolved. Have an assembly and invite someone to speak on this matter (why not ask Al Gore to come speak?) Get the student body educated and then break up into groups (perhaps by class) and each group would have to submit say 10 ideas. Then have a Committee for Energy and they would compile and present the most popular ideas to the faculty. Then the students would carry it out and help by reminding each other. Once you have this part completed, contact the local newspaper and see if they want to do a story on your school and your green efforts. Good luck to you all.

i have a dog house built like a fire house. on every fire house there are two lights nautical lights red and green. i used lawn solar cones for my lighting on the dog house but i can’t get the cones dyed those colors.

warm water up in a pan. Not boiling but almost hot, add food coloring then dip the plastic cones in. The hot water will open the pores on the plastic. Don’t let melt but get hot enough to absorb. You’ll have to play around with the amount of food coloring you use. ( they do this in photography to change colors of the plastic Lens.

i have a dog house built like a fire house. on every fire house there are two lights nautical lights red and green. i used lawn solar cones for my lighting on the dog house but i can’t get the cones dyed those colors.

warm water up in a pan. Not boiling but almost hot, add food coloring then dip the plastic cones in. The hot water will open the pores on the plastic. Don’t let melt but get hot enough to absorb. You’ll have to play around with the amount of food coloring you use. ( they do this in photography to change colors of the plastic Lens.

why don’t we all just not exist….. eat grass, live in recycled cardboard boxes, walk to the beach from kentucky, not wear clothes, etc, etc. face it, producing and consuming is what makes the world go round. it really irritates me that everyone is preaching about going green. solar panneling and special light bulbs arn’t built from thin air, and neither are home appliances, and hybrid cars. they are built at factories. that produce polution. it really is a lost cause. honestly, i really think it is a scam and i don’t buy it.

Just on March 14th, kind of goes with the Corned Beef and Cabbage.

In nature, green leaves collect light and produce energy. Is this what they copied to make solar panels? If not how hard would it be to make artificial leaves that would power our homes?

Solar panels were not made to copy leaves. Leaves have molecules that become excited when they are hit by light. They store this energy in ADP molecules and ATP molecules. This works great for biological processes, but until we learn how to use Adenosine Di/Triphosphate to transport energy, we are better off sticking with our solar panels. They produce electricity, which we know how to use.

Why green? I remember learning that black absorbs the most light — hence the suckiness of a black shirt on a sunny day.

And if green’s so great, why aren’t solar a leafier hue?
I know plants are green because chlorophyll’s green. Why is chlorophyll green as opposed to some other color? Natural selection is not arbitrary — there must be something -about- green that caused so many plants to use it.

And with that in mind, if both plants and solar panels harvest sunlight to convert into energy, why aren’t solar panels green?
I know plants are green because chlorophyll’s green. Why is chlorophyll green as opposed to some other color? Natural selection is not arbitrary — there must be something -about- green that caused so many plants to use it.

And with that in mind, if both plants and solar panels harvest sunlight to convert into energy, why aren’t solar panels green?

Ok you all need a botany and physics class! The chlorophyll in plants appears green because it absorbs all the colors of the light spectrum except for green!

See the link below.

Solar panels need to absorb as much solar energy as possible, therefore they are black. Black is the inclusion of all colors and white is the absence of color. Therefore, the most energy is absorbed by a black solar panel and a white one would reflect all the energy away making it useless.

What better example to be set for the American Public than if the ‘White House’ became the model for green technology? Does anyone know if the White House recycles, has solar panels, CFL lights, etc.?

Couldn’t find anything on the web – does anyone have any info about this?

Jimmy Carter had installed thermal solar panels on the White House back in the 70s in response to the energy crisis. Then Reagan came in and promptly had them removed, probably to try to convince people that solar didn’t work and that his buddies in coal and gas had the only real answers.

However, solar panels are back at the White House. In a surprising leap of progressive thinking, it was George W. Bush who agreed to bring them back.

Just curious,but if growing ‘veggies’ with MH or similiar fixture is it possible 2 achieve same/or better results using Solar Energy or Panels???

-think about it….if you have anything 2 add feel free =]

Keep iT Green

HPS and MH lights are very high intensity lights and also add considerable heat. You won’t get the same results with any other type of lighting. You could certainly power them with solar panels and a storage cell setup but I would think it would be a rather large system depending on how many lights and may not be cost effective.