Selling power back to your utility company can be easy. Essentially you use a solar or wind powered source for energy during the day and it supplies energy back to a grid, causing your utility meter to run backwards.

Then, when it is dark outside or windy, the meter starts to roll forward again. This helps to save hundreds or thousands of dollars each year in electrical bills.

Before you can start to use this type of system, you must contact your local utility company and file an interconnection agreement with them. This gives you the rights and regulations you have to abide by in order to use your solar or wind powered source for energy.

Currently over 40 states have laws in affect stating utility companies must allow some kind of interconnection agreement with its users. Most utilities companies will not mail you a check if you produce more energy than they do.

But, they may agree to roll over the dollar amount you saved towards the next month or a future month when you experience more usage. The government has recently started giving tax breaks to those using solar or wind power as electricity, giving them another great chance to save money.

The problem many people are encountering is solar powering is not stable. With a grid, solar power is transferred into energy. In most cases, only 10 to 15 percent of solar power has the ability to be transferred into use-able energy for sustaining a household.

Source: Solar

With every hike in the price of electricity, more and more people are thinking about using renewable energy for at least part of their regular supply.

What type of renewable energy you decide to use will likely be decided by whereabouts you live. If you enjoy a reasonable climate and the sun shines for much of the year, you’ll likely decide to use solar energy.

If you live in chillier climates, chances are that your thoughts will turn to using the power of the wind instead.

Each of these has advantages and disadvantages.

Pretty obviously, solar power only works in daylight, even if the efficiency of modern solar cells means the sun can be hidden from view. If you’re in a hot area, the sun will be shining at the time you most need your power for air conditioning and other such items. In cooler climates, solar power almost certainly won’t be your only option, although it would still contribute to (say) heating your pool in the summer or providing extra light in your garden for those evenings where it isn’t too chilly to stay outside.

Wind power needs some kind of wind but they’ll also have an upper limit of windspeed, beyond which they won’t operate – if the wind falls below a certain speed, they won’t operate, if it blows too fast the turbine may struggle to keep up. You also need to remember that even in the most windy places, there are times of dead calm, so you’ll need a battery or regular power connection for such times. This problem also means that unless you have your own storage, you shouldn’t totally go off grid power if you rely on wind.

Your next choice is whether to have your renewable energy system professionally installed or to give the DIY option a try. You can get a set of comprehensive renewable energy instructions to help take you down this path if you like, with the added advantage that you’ll be saving hundreds of dollars if you go down the DIY renewable energy path.

Source: solar energy

The availability of alternative energy comes in many different forms. One of these is solar power: Solar power is driven by photovoltaic cells, and these are progressively getting less expensive and more advanced.

There aren’t any areas where solar power cannot be utilised including: generating electricity and hot water plus of course it has the added benefit of being pollution free. However, much more work still needs to be done in order for us to economically harness the sun’s energy. The one major problem is storing the power for use when the sun is not as strong, on overcast days and when night falls.

As of the moment, the most-invested-in alternative energy source favored by many private investors as well as the government is the wind energy. Huge double and triple bladed windmills can be seen around the world, working constantly, day and night to produce large amounts of electricity. Of course, there is nothing new about the concept of a windmill for harnessing energy.

The windmills used today are massive compared to those used in the past and much more ‘high-tech’ and often referred to as ‘wind-turbines’. The only downside to this form of power is when the wind isn’t blowing, you cannot produce power. Of course, the power we need can come from other sources when this happens so currently we cannot rely completely on wind power even if we had sufficient farms to cater for our needs.

A massive quantity of power can be obtained from another source of alternative energy which is the hydroelectric energy. All that is required is a large body of water and gravity – this fall of water from a great height is able to turn large turbines which generate electrical power. As water is everywhere it has not generally been a problem finding locations where it can be employed.

The main problem with this process is the initial financial cost and the size of these dams means it is a lengthy project which does not come without it’s own issues. Building of dams is often the most common and effective means of controlling the flow of water to sufficiently provide the source in generating the needed power.

Conservationists are starting to be worried about operating a dam as it not only requires a lot of labour building it to store and control water’s potential and kinetic energy but it can also be risky and complicated. To produce power this way does not always require a dam, especially if it is only a small community that is being serviced.

There are other options that you may use especially if it is just to supply neighbourhoods or an individual office or home such as small run-of-river hydroelectric converters.

However, the most underused and under-rated form of energy is geo-thermal: this is the heat which is generated inside the planet beneath the crust. The earth’s inner molten core is the one responsible for transferring the heat into the water.

Power plants use a number of ways to draw this water to the surface and harness it into ‘free’ energy. When hot water is drawn up, it simply means that there is the need to gather steam. The Geysers is an example of a dry stream plant located in the region of about 100 miles north of San Francisco and perhaps the best-known of all geothermal power fields.

Source: solar energy

Fossil fuels like coal, gas and oil are a finite resource. As it becomes more difficult to detect and extract from the earth, the costs to the consumer are sure to rise. This trend will continue if more resources continue to be used. And this is not the only cost of using fossil fuels. Many people feel that they have caused many of the environmental problems that we are beginning to witness today and ultimately will be paid for by future generations. So what are the alternatives to these traditional sources of energy. This article will cover a few of the alternative energy sources that are being touted as practical solutions both commercially and for the individual homeowner.

The first alternative energy source to be covered is solar energy. It has been with us for a good number of years now and many people are familiar with the odd solar panel in the neighborhood. To this extent, mankind has always known about the Sun’s energy and used it is one way or another since the first civilizations where established, however it is only fairly recently that it has advanced to the stage that we are at now.

At this point in time, the Sun’s heat and light energy is utilized to make energy for consumption.

Heat energy provided by the sun is used for many things like heating water, heating a room or cooking food. The heat from the Sun can be felt on the skin so it was not such a leap of imagination to apply it’s power to other applications. In reality, the Sun was used by many of these civilizations not only as an energy resource but also as a god, indicating the importance that they gave it.

Getting energy out of sunlight is still a fairly new development by comparison. The innovation that makes this occur is the photovoltaic (PV) cell. It was first used in the 19th century but only started being produced commercially in the 1970′s.

The principle behind it is that photons in sunlight hit the PV cell causing an electron to be displaced from the atom. Many cells and more sunlight cause more electrons to flow. This is how direct current (DC) electricity works. Direct current can be stored in a battery or used to power appliances that run on DC.

Wind power is another source of renewable energy that is becoming popular. I think this is because it is fairly well understood by most people as a concept. It may also be because plenty of wind turbines are popping up all over the countryside.

A wind turbine is a modern day windmill, it uses the power of the wind to turn blades. The kinetic energy turns a generator that, in turn, creates electricity. Countries such as Germany, Denmark and the United States are increasing the number of wind turbines every year. They represent a clean and cheap way to create energy.

Wind turbines or windmills can even be built in residential homes at a reasonable cost. It is quite simple to build a windmill or turbine from scratch or a pre-built variety can be purchased. Before you even think about this however, you need to establish if there is enough wind to make it viable and locate a good spot in your yard for it to go. You may also want to notify your neighbors that you are erecting a turbine as it could be an issue with some people.

Other renewable energy systems utilize the kinetic energy of water to create electricity. This is hydro-power and a dam is an obvious example of this process in action. Geothermal energy can also be used to some extent. The idea behind this is to use the heat found in the earth core to heat water, much like a hot spring or spa, to use as it is or as an input to a generator.

Source: solar energy

Although it is much less expensive to initially get hooked into the local electric company’s grid than it is to set up and hook into wind turbines, in the long run one saves money by utilizing the wind for one’s energy needs—while also becoming more independent. Not receiving an electric bill while enjoying the advantages of the modern electrically-driven lifestyle is a wondrous feeling.

Electric bills and fuel bills are rising steadily—but the cost of wind turbine energy is zero, and the cost of installing and hooking up a turbine is steadily coming down as demand rises and more commercial success is realized by various companies producing the turbines and researching technologies to make them ever more efficient. In addition, people are moving away from the traditional electric grids and the fossil fuels for personal reasons including desire for greater independence, the desire to live remotely or rurally without having to “go primitive”, political concerns such as fears of terrorist strikes on oil fields or power grids, or concerns about the environment.

Again, this motivation to get away from the traditional energy sources is the same one that causes people to seek the power of the wind for their energy, giving more business opportunities to profit from wind turbine production and maintenance, which drives their costs down for the consumers. In nearly thirty states at the time of this writing, homeowners who remain on the grid but who still choose to use wind energy (or other alternative forms) are eligible for rebates or tax breaks from the state governments that end up paying for as much as 50% of their total “green” energy systems’ costs.

In addition, there are 35 states at the time of this writing where these homeowners are allowed to sell their excess energy back to the power company under what are called “net metering laws”. The rates that they are being paid by the local power companies for this energy are standard retail rates—in other words, the homeowners are actually profiting from their own energy production.

Some federal lawmakers are pushing to get the federal government to mandate these tax breaks and other wind power incentives in all 50 states. Japan and Germany already have national incentive programs in place. However, “A lot of this is handled regionally by state law. There wouldn’t really be a role for the federal government,” the Energy Department’s Craig Stevens says.

And as might be imagined, there are power companies who feel that it’s unfair that they should have to pay retail rates to private individuals. “We should [only have to] pay you the wholesale rate for … your electricity,” according to Bruce Bowen, Pacific Gas & Electric’s director of regulatory policy. However, the companies seem to be more worried about losing short term profits than about the benefits, especially in the long run, of the increased use of wind turbines or wind farms. Head of the Center for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Technologies of California V. John White points out, “It’s quality power that strengthens the grid.”

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Source: alternative energy

The New York Times has published an article on an aging power grid and the potential setbacks to wind energy and other sources of renewable energy.

Current electric transmission lines are not able to handle the load produced my massive wind farms such as the Maple Ridge Wind Farm in New York.  The 200 turbine strong wind farm, is being forced to shut down production at times to cope with fees that are associated with pumping too much electrical current into the power grid.  This bottle neck is limiting the advances of wind power and is one of the major drawbacks slowing down the implementation of a nation wide renewable energy grid. 

While wind turbines located in places like the Mid-West can generate much more power than the same turbines placed on the east coast, there is not yet a reliable way of transmitting the electricity needed across many states.  Since control of power grids is generally left to state governments, there is little incentive to provide better transmission to out-of-state facilities.  Within each state, transmission lines may be owned by many different companies, causing any upgrades to be a painstaking process.  The Energy Policy Act of 2005 allowed the U.S. government to extend approval of transmission lines in the event that states are not providing upgrades and maintenance, through this has led to little direct expansion and infrastructure upgrades, especially in relation to peak supplies of inconsistent energy sources such as wind power.

The issue of transmitting electricity throughout the United States is something that must be recognized and remedied before further goals of expanding our renewable energy base can be implemented further.  The problems facing the aging power grid are by no means new.  In 2001, North American Electric Reliability Council, was advising congress on the problems facing the current power infrastructure.  Seven years later we are still facing the same concerns but on a much larger scale.  Incentives for renewable energy are great, but the United States must realize that it means nothing if transporting electricity can not be carried out in an efficient, reliable manner.

Companies such as MidAmerican Energy, which happens to lead the country in generation of wind power, and American Electric Power are making steps to help improve transmission lines that will carry some of the renewable energy that is generated throughout the U.S.  This proposal shows that energy companies have something to gain by working together to transmit the power that they are producing.  Without partnerships like these, future renewable energy projects can not proceed at a profitable level. 

While, further development in technologies such as Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES) and fuel cells, may allow temporary storage of electricity generated by renewable energy sources, transporting energy from state to state is still a needed upgrade to contend with the U.S. goal of energy independence.

According to the American Wind Energy Association, the United States is now the leader in wind energy production. Wind energy in 2008 has risen and current wind power capacity is rated at 19,549MW, an increase of 2,726MW from 2007. Germany currently has a wind power capacity of about 23,000MW, but generates less power due to stronger winds in the U.S.

The AEWA also projects that by end of year 2008, some 7,500MW of wind power capacity will be brought online in the United States. This projected capacity demonstrates a 45% increase from 2007. Recent fossil fuel prices and tax incentives have provided a prime environment for wind energy related projects.

One issue causing wind projects to be rushed before the end of 2008, is the uncertainty of federal tax incentives and rebates that are set to expire late 2008. Without these credits, the future of new wind energy projects is in jeopardy. Recent jobs and businesses catering to the wind power industry will have to be scaled back without the benefits experienced in 2008, extended throughout 2009. Though, financial burdens will first be absorbed by the wind industry, these high costs will be passed on to consumers, and create a recess of clean energy production.

AWEA Executive Director Randall Swisher stated, “At a time when unemployment is at a 4-year high and the economy needs every stimulus it can get, a rapid extension of the credit should be on any economic priority list for Congress.”

Congress must look to clean energy solutions to help rebuild an economy that threatens the livelihoods of millions of Americans. In addition to providing jobs, wind power can help secure America’s Independence from foreign sources of electricity. The United States has an opportunity to lead the world into new innovating ways of producing energy and electricity, provided U.S. leaders provide incentives to expand the renewable energy infrastructure.