Home & Garden Green Living

Save Money By Installing a Solar Or Wind Power System Yourself

Once you've made the decision to install a solar and/or wind power system for your home, the question becomes: How much money can you really save by doing it yourself? The answer to that question depends on a number of factors, including the size of the system you plan to install, how much time your willing to spend shopping for parts and how much of the actual work you can do on your own.
The fact is, you can save up to thousands of dollars just by doing it yourself.
In reality, installing a solar and/or wind power system is not that difficult.
There are at least a dozen excellent, inexpensive, do-it-yourself installation guides on the market today which offer step-by-step instruction.
On the other hand, there are hundreds of certified alternative energy contractors throughout the United States that will do a great job for you, but a professional installation will cost you thousands of dollars.
Obviously, this article is geared toward people who want to save some money and enjoy the satisfaction of completing a job well done.
Ultimately, how much you save on the installation will depend on how far you're willing to go and how much of a commitment you want to make.
You can install a single solar panel to run a couple of light bulbs and a small appliance, or you can install an advanced system designed to run your whole house, which will include your lights and appliances as well as a solar hot water heater.
To help you estimate the size and cost to install an energy system for your home or building, you'll find several easy to use solar and wind estimator's available on the internet.
Once you figure out how big you want to go and what materials you will need, you can decide whether you want to purchase your parts new, or save even more money by building your own solar panels and shopping around for some used equipment.
Most of the good do-it-yourself installation guides on the market will help you decide which options are best for you.
Whether you decide to make your own solar panels, or go with new parts or used parts, the bottom line is you can save a lot of money by doing it yourself.
For example, an average solar panel purchased new, depending upon the wattage, will run anywhere from an average of $200 to $600.
However, it is not out of the question to build your own solar panels for under $100 apiece.
The same goes when it comes to shopping for the rest of your materials.
Just like any marketplace, prices will vary and it pays to shop around.
When you take into account the cost of labor and the cost of parts that have been marked up by a professional contractor, a do-it-yourself installation starts to make good sense.
Why not do some research, then purchase a good do-it-yourself solar/wind power installation guide and find out if doing it yourself really is the way to?

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