By building your own solar energy system you can cut your electricity bills by as much as 80%, potentially even more. And by building your own homemade solar energy system you will more than likely save thousands of dollars as compared to purchasing one of the expensive pre-manufactured solar energy kits that are on the market.

Surprisingly, there are now a number of build your own wind and solar energy guides on the market that will use a combination of print, illustrations, and video to teach you how to build you own solar panels for less than $200, potentially even less. With prices like these it is no wonder there has been such a boom in the popularity of do it yourself solar energy systems recently.

There are a number of great guides on the market. If you’re interested in learning more about homemade solar energy simply click on the link below to read my extensive review of the top programs.

Read my review of the top 3 homemade solar energy systems >>

Create your own energy now >>

1. Install a programmable thermostat. Heating and cooling your house when no one is home – or when everyone is in bed – uses an unnecessary amount of energy. This is bad for the environment and bad for your checkbook! Instead of wasting that energy, buy a programmable thermostat and set the temperature to be several degrees cooler (or warmer in the summer) during the night and when the house is empty. You can easily have it back to the temperature you like by the time you wake up or arrive home.

2. Keep your furnace running efficiently. Your furnace is the most expensive appliance in your house to run. In fact household heating accounts for 60% of all energy used in the average home. Make sure it is operating as efficiently as possible by replacing its filter every two months. A great option is to purchase one of the reusable filters that can be washed on a regular basis. You’ll pay more for them but they last for years so in the end they cost less than disposable filters. The few minutes it will take you to properly care for your furnace can increase its energy efficiently by as much as 50 per cent.

3. Opt for a tankless hot water solution. If your hot water tank is getting old and you’re considering replacing it, choose one of the new tankless hot water options. They heat water as you need it instead of keeping an entire tank heated and ready to go at all times. As a result they use significantly less energy, which is better for the environment. And an added bonus is that you can expect to save about 50% on your hot water heating costs.

4. Wrap your hot water heater in a blanket. Every hardware store sells fiberglass blankets that you can wrap around your hot water tank to help it hold in heat. They are easily installed (you can do it yourself) and usually pay for themselves in the first year of use.

5. Replace your incandescent light bulbs. Although they cost more upfront, the compact fluorescent light bulbs will save you a lot of money in the long run. They use 75% less electricity than incandescent light bulbs and last up to 10 times longer! That means you pay significantly less for electricity and are not throwing nearly as many light bulbs into the landfill. If you were to change only five of the light bulbs that you use the most often to compact fluorescent bulbs you could save more than $30 per year.

6. Keep your house cool naturally. Closing the blinks and curtains and using ceiling fans can dramatically decrease the temperature of your home during the heat of the summer. If you must use air conditioning, keep it at 75F and reserve its use only for the hottest days. A programmable thermostat is a great option to raise the temperature during the night and when no one is home.

If you’ve been watching the news at all lately than you know the world is headed for trouble when it comes to energy. Whether it’s because of the environment or it’s because of conflict over oil rich territories in the Middle East, it is increasingly clear to many of us that something has got to change. With the world’s population on the rise and with the emergence of several nations as industrial super powers such as China and India, the burning of fossil fuels for energy simply cannot last and more and more it seems that when it comes to energy we are headed straight into a brick wall, and fast!

But as an individual, you’ve probably wondered what you can actually do about it? Well the truth is that you can do a lot. One of the simplest and in some ways most profound thing you can do is to be responsible for your own energy consumption. How do you do this? Well, put simply, by living off the grid. In doing so you not only leave a positive carbon footprint on the planet but you also influence the people and world around you.

Living off the grid essentially means that you get your power from sources other than the central power grid. Meaning, you create your own power by harnessing the energy of the sun, the wind, water, or more likely, a combination of several of these sources. Living off the grid is not only for remote farmers or tree hugging hippies, it can be for anyone. You can even live off the grid in a suburb and believe it or not, even in an apartment if you have a flexible landlord.

Wind Power, Solar panels and even harnessing the power of a stream or river if you live near one are all methods that can be used to support an off the grid lifestyle. But you should know that the advancement in these technologies has been enormous in recent years and these projects are no longer massive undertakings that will leave you broke in a poorly lit home. You can live just like everyone else, with flat screen TV’s, washer and dryers, and just about any other modern technology you can imagine all off of your own power system that you yourself can build.

You’d be surprised to learn that it is not only cost-effective to live off the grid but also extremely feasible to do so no matter where you live. If you’d like to look further into living off the grid, I recommend you read “Earth 4 Energy”, a step by step guide to living off the grid. Click the link below to learn more.

If you’d like to learn more about living off the grid and how you can build your own affordable wind generators and solar power systems click here >>

Rest assured, that’s not what living off the grid is all about. You’re still going to be able to check your email, and enjoy a nice warm shower. It’s just a matter of knowing how to do so more efficiently.

In order to successfully manage an off the grid lifestyle you need to embrace the concepts of efficiency, organization, maintenance, and conservation. These things may sound overwhelming but really it’s just about making a few simple changes to your routine. Once in place, these changes become automatic and require very little additional mental effort on your part.

This is a very exciting time for environmentalists like myself. While the skyrocketing price of gas has undoubtedly created many hardships for Americans, it has had one positive affect which has been that energy awareness is at an all time high in America and around the world. This has led to an explosion of interest, in energy conservation and new technology, and is inspiring more and more people every year to explore living off the grid.

If you should choose to embark on an off the grid lifestyle, or even a partial off the grid lifestyle, you will ultimately save yourself a lot of money and benefit from a sense of pride that comes along with knowing that you are leaving a positive carbon footprint on the planet.

To Learn how to build your own solar and wind power generators click the link below

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