Owing to the looming fossil fuel crisis in the world today, it has become rather urgent for us to tap into other sources of energy for meeting our diverse needs. Solar power is being considered as a potential replacement to fossil fuels and conventional sources of electricity in the coming decades. Many countries worldwide have already started promoting the use of solar power systems and many people have already installed residential solar power systems in their homes for harvesting solar energy. The result of such ventures are paying off well for many home owners.

The use of solar energy is still in the early stages and most of us are still not very clear about the methods of harnessing and utilizing solar energy. For this we have to first understand what the term residential solar power implies and how it is to be harvested.

Solar power and its importance in residential use

Residential solar power implies converting and channeling the energy derived from the sun into electrical energy that can be utilized by a number of household appliances and vehicles. Since solar energy is freely available from the sun there is no need to make additional purchases to obtain this virtually unlimited resource. Your overall investment in residential solar power is limited to your initial investment and maintenance costs once the equipment is installed.

Many people have installed solar energy systems on a roof or in their back yard for harvesting solar energy and for using it in several household applications. Governments have come up with many incentives for people to invest in solar energy in place of conventional energy, many state governments have developed concrete programs to encourage people in using residential solar power for their household energy requirements. One of the programs available gives you the opportunity to sell surplus energy generated from your solar energy system to the government or local utility. Many people have benefited from this scheme.

Another advantage that you could consider for changing over to residential solar power is that it is environmentally safe. Unlike conventional fuel generation, residential solar power generation does not involve the emission of harmful gases like carbon dioxide, carbon mono oxide, sulphur-laden gases, etc. into the surrounding atmosphere. This is one of the prime reasons for its suitability for residential use. Residential solar power systems work silently and you do not run the risk of disturbing your neighbours with noise pollution.

How does a residential solar power system work?

Residential solar power systems can be purchased as kits or can have a system designed for a specific location but they all essentially consist of an inverter, photovoltaic panels an electrical service panel and possibly a battery storage bank. Photovoltaic panels absorb energy directly from the rays of the sun and then convert that energy into electrical energy. This generated electricity is fed into your service panel and then distributed to different electrical outlets of your house.

If there is a surplus of electricity produced, that energy can be fed into the local power grid and you will be given credits from the electrical utility which you can use during low production times to buy power back. This allows for more cost savings and insures you always have enough power to meet your needs. Another option, if you want an off grid system is to use a battery backup system to store energy for later use.