Hi,

         The UK Government announced yesterday that it hoped to introduce Green Loans to enable consumers to install insulation and solar panels in their homes without cost. The idea apparently is to fund the solar green energy with private sector funding. In other words consumers would pay for the green energy through their power bills. The saving they would make on their energy bills would be offset against loan payments to the energy company.

It has been stated that since it would take some time to pay off the £9,000 or so cost of solar panels, the loan will be attached to the house rather than the house owner. This would mean that if the owners sold the house the loan would remain with the house. Estate agents however think this might make houses more difficult to sell. Forgive me for being sceptical but in view of the forthcoming UK General election I wonder just how much of this is just election posturing.

Fear not however the answer is build your own solar panels. In this way you can have the benefit of a significantly reduced power bill but without having to pay off a loan. Furthermore if you do sell your house the value will be increased and will be more attractive to buyers since there is no loan to pay off.

Building your own solar panels will cost you just a fraction of the £9,000 or so mentioned above. You can obtain a detailed illustrated instruction manual online for less than £35 ($50) and you can obtain the components from your local hardware store for less than £140 ($200). This represents the sort of cost for building solar panels (using photovoltaic cells) to generate electricity. You can also build solar panels (Evacuated tubes or flat panel collectors) to heat your water, and this will cost even less, around £90 ($135).   

 One other factor that has not been mentioned is the huge investment in renewable energy resources by the government over the coming 10 -15 years. This has to be paid for some how and guess who will pay? All of us in rising energy bills.

Build your own solar panels to generate electricity
Build your own solar hot water system