Tag Archives: solar lights

Solar Farms – The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly

Utilizing solar energy is something we should be doing more of since it’s clean and renewable, at least cleaner than biomass energy. That’s the good part about solar energy. Right now we need more infrastructure built up. That’s the bad part. To do so requires a large investment in solar which investors don’t like because they can find better ROI’s elsewhere. That’s the ugly part. This holds true for personal systems and larger scale systems, at least until the solar world becomes more profitable.

There hasn’t exactly been landslide success for solar panel farms. There have been a few successful small scale operations. There are plenty of companies that will fill your personal, or possibly small neighborhood or community needs. If this is all you need and you’re willing to commit the capitol upfront then start making a few calls to find the right developer or installer.

Solar systems are actually pretty simple, especially off-grid connections. Expenses go up when you need to tie into the grid because it normally requires an inverter, special permits, and sometimes certified installers. It all depends on your local, state, and federal laws. Again, total off-grid usually doesn’t require much in the way of permits, and if you can change the battery in your car you can likely do most of it yourself. Always check with local authorities though. You don’t want to build any small solar panel farms and then have to change it, or worse, tear it down.

When it comes to larger investments, there may or may not be great opportunities in solar farms. The field of photovoltaic science is advancing extremely rapidly. Think computers in the early 90’s. Are they going to be a part of everyone’s life, like computers seem to be today? That reality is entirely possible. However, no one seems to have deciphered the right code or formula to bring solar power into the mainstream. Just like on the small scale, solar farming requires a pretty significant upfront cost with a somewhat questionable payback return. Some critics argue that without government incentives and subsidies, it wouldn’t be profitable in the least. However, if we look at computers, the first generations were exorbitantly expensive. So the great questions, and where the inherent risk lies, is whether or not the technology advances will bring the upfront costs down and payback and return on investments up. Someone needs to be the Bill Gates or Steve jobs of solar energy and eventually the cost of solar will decrease to a good level that nearly all can afford, and profit greatly from.

Solar Pathway Lights Info

Many choices are available to consumers when shopping for exterior home lighting. Indeed, whether it is choices in finish, material, size, or shape of the exterior home lighting, choices are plentiful. One type of application of exterior home lighting is pathway lighting. Similar to choices in the broader category of exterior home lighting, pathway lighting is available in different designs, whether considering the design from an aesthetic perspective, or whether considering the design of the lighting from the power source design perspective. While some homeowners initially focus on the aesthetics of the pathway lighting, they may also want to consider the power source the lighting uses to illuminate. This article briefly discusses solar pathway lights.

Solar pathway lights operate by utilizing the sun’s energy to provide illumination. The solar component of these lights is designed to harness the sun’s energy during the day and emit it at night. Thus, no electricity is used in this design. However, in order for these lights to function as designed, the solar panel component of the lighting fixture must be placed in the sunlight, so that they harness the sun’s energy. If solar pathway lights, specifically the solar panel component of the lighting, are installed in locations that are not sunny, or blocked from the sun by objects, this type of lighting will not work well with current solar pathway technology. These lights are designed to be installed in sunny locations.

Therefore, if consumers are considering installing pathway lighting on the walkways of their property, and the lights will be installed in sunny locations, solar pathway lighting may be a good option for them. Benefits of solar pathway lighting include that they tend to be easy to install, are ecologically friendly, given they use no electricity in their design, and because they use no electricity in their design, they do not add to the electricity bill.

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How to illuminate your outdoor driveway?

Outdoor lighting is very important because not only does it improves aesthetics, it will also improve safety and security of the area your are illuminating. The most popular areas to illuminate are your garden, patio, walkway and your driveway. Placing lights on your driveway is an important thing to do because you want to know where you are going when it is dark. Accidents are prone to happen when it is dark and you can prevent accidents by placing lights on your driveway.

There are quite some different options to use for properly lighting your driveway. Still the most popular way to do it is with string lights. String lights can be installed and connected to a time switch or a simple switch that you can turn on and off whenever you like to. A frequently used method is by connecting it to a motion detector. Whenever a car is approaching the light will turn on, this saves you time and prevents the area from being constantly illuminated, a thing your neighbors will not always appreciate.

Although string lights are still the most popular option, other better options are also available. LED lights for example, are a much more easier way to light your driveway because they are much easier to install. The benefit of them is that you can place them in to the ground so there is always a spot to place them. However, LED lights still have to be connected to a power network and this is a tough nut to crack if you don’t know how to work with string lights or LED lights.

A third option is the use of solar lights. Nowadays there are very useful small lights available which you can also place in to the ground. The only thing you have to consider is placing them faced to the sun because they will need enough sun light to charge their batteries. The big advantage of solar lights is that you don’t have to connect them to a power network which makes installation rather easy.

For more tips, visit out website on outdoorlightinglamps.com