How to improve the efficiency of solar roof?

5/8/2016

The summer season is on in India and most of the parts are experiencing the beating of scorching heat. The fans, dessert coolers, and a/c are running continuously at their full capacity making the electricity bills to rise at least twice than in the normal months. Installing solar power system at your rooftop can be a good solution to meet your energy demand in summers that too without raising your electricity bills.

Yes, installing a system will cost you money but using some practical ways you can actually reduce its overall cost and can increase the efficiency that will make your solar power system saving you money in the different months of the year.
Let’s discuss the practical ways one by one:

(1) Buying energy efficient devices

If you are planning to buy new electrical or electronics appliance then consider the energy use of the appliance in addition to its price and the product features. The energy rating of the appliance will let you know the amount of energy it consumes to give the output. It’s true that the high energy rating appliance will cost you more as compared to the low energy rating appliance but in a long run, it will save you money and energy as it’s running cost will be low. For example, you can replace CFL with LED’s as they are more energy efficient with the same amount of output. LED’s are costlier than CFL’s but at the same time, their operating life is much as double to that of CFL. So, you are not losing anything rather you will benefit in long run. The energy efficient devices require less energy to run them; therefore you need a fewer amount of solar panels to design your solar power system which can run your electrical appliances. This will obviously reduce the cost of your solar power system

(2) Use and maintain your appliances effectively

You can definitely save energy and money if your use your electrical appliances wisely and judiciously, like

Using the right indicator heat to iron the different fabrics of clothes like use cotton indicator to iron cotton clothes and silk indicator to iron the silk clothes and so on
Running your a/c at the optimum temperature and do not change it frequently
Servicing the heavy electrical appliances in time will save energy
Maintain distance between fridge and the oven otherwise it is difficult for the refrigerator to keep the food cold and it will consume more power
Do not leave the appliances in the standby mode as it consumes electricity
Do not switch on two high wattage appliances like a/c simultaneously as they are likely to draw high current which may result in burning of wires
Dispose of old electrical appliances as they consume more energy

The above practice will save energy and reduce the cost of your yet to be installed solar power system

(3) Try to gather your family members in a single room at least once in a day

Try to spend some time together with all your family members like having a lunch or dinner, watching television together, etc and switch off the appliances of the remaining rooms. This practice will help you in saving energy as you are using the single room of the house. Well, this activity comes with another advantage; you are making your relationship bond stronger by spending time with your family.

(4) Right tilt, proper gap, and regular cleaning of the panels increases the efficiency

When solar panels are placed under the sunlight, they produce electricity and the output varies with the change in angle between your panel and the rays of the sun. When solar panels are placed at the certain angle with respect to the rays of the sun (it depends on the geographical location), produce the maximum output and this is called the right tilt of the panels. The right tilt makes your solar panels more effective and saves you money. The output of your solar panels depends on the temperature of the surroundings, the output decreases as the temperature increases. In order to make your solar panel perform effectively, you need to leave a gap between the panels so as to maintain the air flow circulation to keep cooling the solar panels. The dust or debris accumulated on the surface of the solar panels reduces their efficiency, therefore regular cleaning should be done in order to maintain the efficiency of your solar power system.

(5) Last but not the least, plant a tree

A tree is a natural air conditioner which provides fresh air without electricity bill. It not only helps in keeping the surrounding cool but also reduces the carbon footprints by absorbing the carbon-di-oxide from the atmosphere. The trees planted next to your house cools the temperature and increase the efficiency of your solar power system.
I have listed the practical ways to reduce the energy consumption which anyone can implement right now and can avail the benefit. The decrease in energy consumption leads to reduced cost of the solar power system with increased efficiency.

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