This is the most commonly know types of renewable energy.
We see these on a few houses as we walk around. About 1 in 250 houses has solar panels.
Is Solar Panel Cleaning Required for their Optimum Performance? Solar panel cleaning is not really that different from cleaning your car windscreen. As with most things you can do it yourself, or pay someone else do it for you.A solar panel typically consists of solar cells covered by a protective glass coating, and just like your car windscreen – the longer it's outside – the more likely it will get dirty and need to be cleaned.
But when it rains much of this dirt and debris will be washed off.
How much Electricity do Dirty Solar Panels Lose?
Pollution, traffic dust, leaves and even bird droppings contribute to preventing sunlight from reaching the solar cells in your solar panels.
The more dirt – the lower amount of electricity they will produce. While many factors affect how much electricity your solar panels will produce – dirty solar panels can be one of the biggest, and easiest to fix.
Experts agree that dirty solar panels don't produce as much power as clean panels. That loss is very hard to estimate but figures like 25% or 30% are quoted by cleaning firms. My experience is very much lower in the order of 10% and when it rains again the panels are virtually clean again.
Check Your Panels
Check your panels need to be cleaned:
Inspect the solar panels on a periodic basis to check on any debris, dirt and the worst culprit bird droppings. Generally, speaking dusty areas typically require more frequent inspection.
The safest way to do this is from the ground using a video camera mounted on a pole (Polecam)
Solar Panel Cleaning Do It Yourself
If you can clean your windows – you can certainly clean your solar panels.The hard part (especially for roof mounted solar panels is reaching them). This is where long reach water fed pole systems can be used.
Two pieces of info are available.
1. Clean the surface of a solar panel much like you would clean your car -- with warm water and dish washing liquid to remove any accumulation of dirt and grime.
2. Use Deionized water, as it leaves no residue behind and has no added chemicals. This is best with a pole system. A pole and pump cost from around about £250 and the chemicals to make the water are about £2 a go.
Use a Solar Panel Cleaning Service
Depending on where you live, ask your installer to recommend a solar panel cleaning service and find out how often the cleaning is recommended – and what it costs. Mine told me my panels were self cleaning. Make sure that they are insured – in case there are accidents.
The cost is quite high and nearly all will use a pol system and deionized water.
Some quoted as much as £50 per panel and recommended at least 3 times a year. That is more than my FIT brings in.
What you could expect to generate in a year.
New ways, New technology
New ways, New technology
Air source heat pumps absorb heat from the outside air. Even when it is cold outside there is usually enough heat in the air to heat the house. Heat pumps supply more energy than they consume, by extracting heat from their surroundings. This heat can then be used to heat the house and this is generally by warm air convectors as sold by many of the companies out there in the business. An air source heat pump extracts heat from the outside air in the same way that a fridge extracts heat from its inside. It can get heat from the air even when the temperature is as low as -15° C. Heat pumps have some impact on the environment as they need to use electricity to run but the heat they extract from the air is constantly being renewed by the sun naturally. Therefore the electricity is being used to power the pump not create the heat. Therefore it seems that you can get more out of the system than you put in. This is because the sun is providing the rest of the energy.
These systems do not provide enough energy to heat the house as they often work at a much lower temperature than conventional boilers but they do provide lower background heat, which can be topped up in cold conditions by conventional heating.
These systems can be used in the summer for cooling. They cost to run and often if you are replacing a gas system the benefit is minimal. The systems can dehumidify rooms if required. With houses sealed up more these days this can be a good idea to remove the potential for mould to grow.
Only some of the heat pumps that have been tested achieved reductions in heating bills. Studies have found a wide-ranging variations in performance, with the biggest heating bill reductions for households off the gas grid. However, the trials found that, without the RHI, an Air to Air Heat Pump could actually cost you more if you are currently using gas or heating oil to heat your home which is certainly not what the companies out there are saying and on to this is also the cost of installation which seems to be in the order of £8000 for a 4 head system.
Condenser units can be noisy and also blow out colder air to the immediate environment. Air to Air heat pumps lose their efficiency when the external temperature falls below 5 degrees Celsius. So in cold weather, an additional source of heating will be required to supplement the Air to Air heat pump. The average temp in the winter is usually about 5C but with the recent colder winters this average is perhaps changing making these systems not as worthwhile. As the temperature falls outside for every 1C lower outside the temp is the inside is also 1C lower. So when it gets cold these pumps can be sort of useless as air heaters. You do not wish to blow colder air in around the room.
With multi-head systems to get one room warm it is often necessary to switch off the other units, which cools the rest of the house.
Unfortunately I don't think air to air systems are good enough yet, but the alternative of air to water connected to underfloor heating, especially in new homes is a different story.
New ways, New technology
New ways, New technology