Net metering

The ability to record both power produced and power consumed. Utility companies record the information, as they do for all home meters, and charge customers for the power they use as well as credit them for any extra or excess power they generate and produce..

Passive Solar Design

 

If you are part of  constructing a new home, consider ways to take complete advantage of the sun – termed "passive solar design". Houses that incorporate passive solar design can positively augment the effects of a solar power system.

Main features to passive solar design include:

• Positioning a home on an east-west axis and ensuring that the home's south side receives its maximum amount of daylight.
• Designing interior spaces so that rooms used most frequently are along the building's south face.
• Taking advantage of thermal mass spaces to store, absorb, and distribute heat.
• Installing overhangs, selecting windows, and adding insulation to maximize sun (and shade).
• Planting trees and other vegetation strategically around your home to provide natural shading and buffer from intense heat.

Renewable Energy

Renewable energy sources consist of the sun and the wind. Harnessing energy from water currents, tides, and waves also described  as types of renewable energy. In opposition, the traditional energy sources we depend on to generate power namely natural gas and oil and coal are non-renewable sources of power. Once these resources are sufficiently depleted they become too expensive and costly to retrieve.
Mind it, not all renewable energy sources come devoid of consequences (think about issues surrounding hydroelectric dams in the West). Solar power has the unique advantage of tapping energy from the sun without actually impacting any other natural resource.

Solar Water Distillers

Water is the most precious resource in the desert, and the desert makes up most of Mexico. There are no wells in communities so rainwater is collected in deposits. This rainwater is not safe to drink, and so families need to boil the water using wood fires. A solar water distiller can provide safe drinking water, so there is no longer a need to boil water. The distiller is basically a box in which water is evaporated and collected. The distiller is expected to last many years. Distillers can provide better quality water while reducing the work involved and the health and environmental impacts of burning wood.

Battery-less Flashlights

Flashlights are used sparingly in Mexico because batteries are so expensive. One alternative is a durable, long-lasting flashlight that does not use batteries. This kind of flashlight gets power just by shaking it (the LED bulb lasts a long time and they are sealed and waterproof).

Solar "Hot Pot" Ovens

Solar ovens are really cool and cheap. Solar ovens are a great alternative to cooking over traditional wood fires. The hot pot can be left outside during daylight hours to cook many different types of food. It saves people energy, since they don't need to get wood. Other benefits are that it doesn’t have as much of an environmental impact, and it reduces the exposure of women and children to smoke.

Why we use Solar Energy ?

Solar energy is a great alternative source of power. Solar panels may be expensive but in the long run they are better for two reasons. One, they lower the electricity and heating bills. Two, they are better for people and the environment because they don’t pollute the air like the burning of fossil fuels.Let’s look at this a different way to see why you should use solar energy. Even though using solar energy can be more expensive than burning fossil fuels, it is clean and sunlight is easily available. Also, you may not realize it but lots of everyday things use solar energy. Things like lights in the yard, calculators, and even cars. The Nuna 3 is a race car made by the Dutch Nuna team. It is completely powered by solar energy.