It was not too long ago that the idea of a home that could gather energy for use as electricity from nothing but the light from the sun was science fiction. Now, however, solar powered homes are the reality, and many people are wondering if residential solar power is right for them.

For anyone who is concerned about the state of the environment, solar power should be one of the first things they consider. The United States generates the vast majority of its electricity using oil, natural gas, and coal power plants; in fact, over half is produced by coal alone. Although these plants are much more efficient than they were twenty or thirty years ago, our use of electricity has also increased dramatically.

According to the Department of Energy, these statistics are an example our energy consumption growing worse each year with electric power plants producing;

• approximately 2.2 billion tons of carbon dioxide
• 12 million tons of sulfur dioxide
• 7 million tons of nitrogen oxides

The fact that producing electricity in this manner is harmful to the environment is undeniable, and anything that the homeowner can do to create their own energy like solar power for homes, is nothing but a huge bonus. Solar powered homes produce electricity, literally out of thin air.

For most people, there are two enormous energy users in their lives: their homes and their cars. Both have become far more energy efficient in recent years, yet the bills stay about the same, if not increase, because the price of that energy keeps increasing. The concept of creating solar power for homes and producing one’s own electricity is very appealing because no one can raise the rates on you. In the next few decades, the idea of a passive solar house will begin sounding even better as more and more cars get their “fuel” from a wall socket. Although consumers may see a heavy decrease in the amount of money they spend on gasoline, they will see an increase in how much they spend on electricity, and there is no real way of knowing exactly how much until the plug-in hybrid vehicle becomes the norm. Solar powered homes will begin multiplying like rabbits once they can also power the family vehicle.

There is no maintenance involved in solar powered homes; once an installer has set everything up, the consumer will live life as normal. Setup generally includes the installation of solar panels on the roof of the home. In some cases, the entire roof is covered. In others, there are only a few panels. It really depends on how much the homeowner wants to spend up front.

In some extremely sunny areas, solar powered homes with the larger, more comprehensive solar energy setups can even power themselves without any help at all from the electric company. Some areas are even set up so that the customers of the electric company can even sell energy back to the grid!