Building a Solar Collector with Solar Energy Plans

If you decide to build your own solar collector, among the first things that you will need are proper solar energy plans that you can follow step by step. If you have good solar energy plans that can easily be followed, it is not that difficult to difficult to construct your own solar collector.

The First Step

Before you do anything else, you need to make sure that you clearly understand the difference between solar collectors and panels. Prior to examining any solar energy plans, it is vital that you understand that solar collectors acquire solar energy in the form of heat, while solar panels are what actually turn that energy into electricity.

Another difference is that solar collectors make use of the greenhouse effect. On the other hand, solar panels convert radiant energy into electricity and today are only really cost effective in remote off-grid areas with a price of about $5/watt.

Materials

There is quite a list of materials that you are going to need for your solar energy plans. These will include two rolls of 50-foot 20” aluminum flashing, four 0.06 thick 4x8 sheets of Kalwall, twenty 1x4x8 pine boards with few or no knots, four 1/2x4x8 CDX plywood, four 1x4x8 sheets of insulation with an R value 5 or better, clear silicon caulking, aluminum foil, some felt paper, one gallon of roofing tar, one gallon of oil base paint, angle irons for mounting, sixteen 1/4x3 lag bolts, sixteen 1/4x1 1/2”  machine bolts with nuts and washers, 1 ¼”  and 2”  drywall screws, one pound of 1 ½”  galvanized nails with small heads, and plumbing supplies.

The actual process that will take place will depend on what specific solar energy plans you have. However, the advantages that you will gain will typically remain the same, regardless of the particular plans that you are using.

Advantages

There can be very serious advantages to using solar energy. If your budget allows you to spend $2,000 and you have a few weeks of labor available, you will be able to save more than $50,000 in home heating and hot water costs. If your use of the sun’s energy is done with efficiency, your consumption could easily be pared down to half, since average American households consume from 1,000 to 2,000 gallons of number two oil per annum. You might even be able to eliminate other fuels entirely, which is certainly the ultimate goal to strive for.