by John Lynn | Feb 4, 2019 | Off Grid Living
How Often Should You Clean Your Solar Panels? Your solar panels do not collect energy at night. During a full moon on Halloween the panels may register a voltage with a multimeter, but you’re not going to run household appliances regardless of how many hounds are up...
by John Lynn | Jan 21, 2019 | Off Grid Living
Solar Panel Efficiency Through The Years. Solar panels were invented by Alexander Becquerel in 1839 and had an efficiency of about 1%. Bell Laboratories came up with the silicon solar panel in 1954 with an improved efficiency of just over 4%. In 1960 Hoffman...
by John Lynn | Jan 7, 2019 | Off Grid Living
How long does it take to pay off your solar panels? This is commonly referred to as the “payback time” and because producing the aluminium and silicon required to make solar panels is energy intensive, this doesn’t happen overnight. In most applications the...
by John Lynn | Jan 4, 2019 | Off Grid Living
Is It Worth Me Buying Solar Batteries For My Home? No it is not. That is no it is not worth buying solar batteries at this time if you have access to electricity from the Australian electricity grid or even electricity from a less expensive supplier. This is starting...
by John Lynn | Dec 5, 2018 | Off Grid Living
Don’t Lose Your Cool – Last week there were devastating fires and a heat wave on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast and it was snowing in Victoria. That’s global warming for you. Maybe the snow will last until Christmas time just in time for Santa to feel just that...
by John Lynn | Dec 3, 2018 | Off Grid Living
Do You Believe Santa Is Real and That Electricity Prices Won’t Rise? Don’t be in a hurry to answer either of those questions without careful consideration. Let’s have a look at the stability of electricity prices first as the information to arrive at...
by John Lynn | Nov 26, 2018 | Off Grid Living
What Is The Best Tilt Angle For Solar Panels On A fixed Roof? I recently wrote an article discussing what would be the best direction for solar panels to face. To get the maximum amount of energy in each day, the panels need to face true north in the southern...
by John Lynn | Nov 19, 2018 | Off Grid Living
Which Direction Is Best For My Solar Panels To Face? The quick answer to that question is, face your panels in the direction that best suits your lifestyle. But surely there is a direction, and even a roof angle that is best for every household. The quick answer to...
by John Lynn | Nov 12, 2018 | Off Grid Living
Electric Cars, … they are on their way back and there may be no stopping them this time. Just about every major manufacturer is either producing or will produce non-hybrid electric cars within the next five to 10 years. Hyundai has the Ioniq and the Kona, Nissan has...
by John Lynn | Nov 5, 2018 | Off Grid Living
Let’s talk about energy efficiency. From one similar household to another, energy consumption can vary as much or even more than 200%. Using more than double the amount of electricity in one household that is required in a similar household is more than likely...
