Microgeneration: Benefits Of Solar Electricity

There are many benefits to generating your own energy through methods such as the use of solar PV. Here we look at a few of them.

The most well known one is that of course it is a renewable energy source and there are not horrible emissions being created through it as there are for instane when you burn petrol.

Therefore solar electricity enables you to reduce your carbon footprint, as there is no CO2 or carbon dioxide produced in the process, nor other pollutant or greenhouse gases either.

It is estimated that a home PV system could save in the region of 1200kg of carbon dioxide each and every year, so for a reasonable lifetime expectancy for the device you are looking at anywhere in the region of 25 - 35 tonnes of carbon dioxide not being emitted as a result, that is quite a significant saving.

Because the government hasn't introduced a tax on sunlight (yet anyway!) it is free to access the sunlight that hits your home, and so once the cost of the system has been paid for (which admittedly can be substantil) it is all money-in from there, and your electricity costs therefore will be reduced. It is estimated that a standard system for a house in standard weather conditions will generate in the region of 40% of the electricity that your home needs.

There is even the ability to sell energy back to the grid, so when you can't use the energy or if you have more than you need, let's say when you go on holiday, then someone else can use it and you can make some money from it. There is more information on feed-in tariffs elsewhere in the section.

Note that you can even use batteries if your system is set up in such a way to store energy that is generated through the solar cells for times when you need it; this is useful when your system is not connection to the national grid.

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Microgeneration: Benefits Of Solar Electricity

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