As people around the world are becoming increasingly more aware of the costs involved in using fossil fuels such as oil and gas, both to the environment and to their wallets, demand for owning a solar energy house can only increase.
People understand that they can not only benefit from using solar power to reduce their monthly bills, but they can expect to get more money for their solar energy house should they wish to sell it. And not only would they most likely sell their house for more money, they would probably sell it far easier than a non solar energy house, all other factors being equal (such as location, size, age etc.).
Building a solar energy house is not nearly as difficult as it once was, and there are often grants available to help with initial costs. Even though solar equipment can pay for itself over several years, it's nice to know that you can get help from your government to help pay for the installation?
It's also nice to know that you can help the ecology of the planet by using less fossil fuel energy.
Buying the solar panels is obviously easier than building your own, but if you're reasonably competent with a screwdriver and drill, and if you can understand simple electrical circuits, then it's very likely that you'll be able to do a lot of the work yourself; all, in fact, other than connecting it up to your mains, which should always be done by a licensed professional.
Many people think that turning your existing home into a solar energy house is a one-off occurrence, but you can easily start small and gradually convert your home. This will be easier on your wallet and it will give you the chance to learn as you go, without having to commit thousands of your hard-earned money in one go.
A lot of people also think that a solar energy house is only viable in really sunny parts of the world, but this is simply not the case. Though it wouldn't be feasible in places like the north or south poles, where there are six months of almost total darkness each year, just about anywhere that humans currently live has enough sunshine to make a solar energy house a worthwhile project.
Solar energy can be used in several ways; you can simply buy or build photovoltaic cells (sometimes called photo-electric cells) that turn sunlight directly into electricity. This power can then be stored in batteries and converted to the correct voltage to power your electrical appliances.
The other way that sunlight can help you build your solar energy house is to have solar collection panels. These are little more than black-painted boxes that are covered in glass with copper tubes running inside, through which water flows. As the sun heats the tubes, just like a greenhouse, the heat cannot escape the box and so heats the water in the tubes, which can then be stored in an insulated tank, very similar to a regular water heater.