
Solar power is a great natural asset. The sun is plentiful and is the most powerful thing in the entire universe. For many years, people and businesses have been using solar panels to gather and harness the energy of the sun. It hasn’t been an easy road, and truth be told, no matter what people tell you, solar power is not “free.” Technically speaking, the sun and the energy it generates is free, but harnessing it is not and has, until recently, been expensive. That has given solar power a bad reputation as a source for free, clean electricity. There are a lot of very expensive ways to purchase solar panels, or solar panel kits. I learned through trial and error that I could make solar panels at home for a lot cheaper that were just as good. So I started putting them on my house. I have also experimented with making small solar panels for things like my cell phone, my blender for those backyard barbeques, and other things. I got the idea from the highway signs that have a small solar panel and figured I could generate enough power to do a bunch of things around the house. The principles are the same: you have to buy the photovoltaic cells, wire them up, and connect them to a storage source. Let’s use rechargeable batteries in this example. You can buy small solar cells at a lot of online sources. I should put a list on my website (note to self). The size of your cells and how you wire them will determine their voltage and amperage, and how much power you need depends on what you are charging or running. There is not enough space in this article to give all those details. Using solar power is not just for big businesses, buildings or homes. Given today’s technology, you can build panels that give you just as much power as you want to run any of your electrical appliances.