Firstly Welcome to the review! In this review we do the following. Firstly we compare what is offered by Earth4Energy against what is actually in their site. Next we go through the written and video material that is the course. Finally we give a summary of our thoughts on the course and how well it’ll help you make DIY solar panels for your home.
Ok, so before we start I should say that if at any time you want go to the Earth4Energy site just click here. Also if you’d rather download the review as a pdf you can do that by clicking here. Ok, now that’s done onto the fun stuff!
Firstly when you arrive at E4E’s website you’ll will be presented with a sales video which is nice but not altogether usefull The claim that you can build a “quality solar panel” for under $200, compared to a full installation costing around $20, 000 dollars for a house is make here. The video is worth watching and gives a good overview. It is a sales video none the less. The key point for me is that Earth4Energy are selling the idea that you can make solar panels cheaply yourself. They are not saying too much about installing the panels onto your house and connected to the grid or getting your work checked by a qualified Electrician. All of these are important parts of the process with associated costs.
The website tells you that Earth4Energy’s product is make up of six parts: These include
1) Introduction To Solar Energy
2) Building Your Solar Panel
3) A Solar Help Package including a Solar Calculator, Guides on “How to Mount Solar Panels” and “Solar Tax Credits and Rebates” and Electrical Wiring Plans
4) A Video Series
5) A guide on “how to make a wind turbine”
6) Some Bonus Videos
I can confirm that all of these are present after you sign-up. Please note if you decide to sign-up you will be offered a series of bonuses which you can pay for. I chose not to take these so this review is about the basic package. After the sign-up you will have access to a “members area” of the website, sent to you via email. This all worked well, some screen shots of the member’s area through my account are given below:
You can see that there are some more stuff offered too: A biodiesel book, + some bought bonus’ too. My feeling is that the site offers something extra in that respect. There is also an important section (“Go Shopping for Parts”) on where you can buy parts to build your solar cells. This page links through to eBay listings for both solar panel kits and retail solar panels so you can compare prices against the effort you will put in to build your own. (obviously you can do this yourself by searching on ebay too!)
You can then download all the documents to your computer by following the links in the screenshots above and you’re ready to start. Here’s what I found Inside
The Written Material
First I want to give you a snapshot of the first page of the main guide, this guide provides the overview for what you’ll be doing. There are supplementary documents too which I’ll describe later on:
This gives you the disclaimer which essentially says that you are completely responsible for your actions with regard to what you build and how you implement it. Without wishing to put a downer on things this is REALLY important, you must not forget this at any stage. I personally would get a qualified person to check my work with anything electrical. This may add to the cost but for me is essential. There, I’ve said my bit, now onto what information is provided to you to help.
The main guide book (earth4energy2010.pdf)is a detailed manual of 36 pages covering the following:
1) An Introduction including Pro’s and Con’s.
a. This section provides a nice intro as to what is good and not good about dollar power. I would also add that there is a risk with a home based project that what you make, due to it being DIY, may mean the panels will not work for the 10 year period when compared to an industrial made product.
b. Types of PV systems are discussed including off and on grid systems.
2) Making Your Home Energy Efficient
a. I particularly like this section. It has nothing to do with making a solar cell but shows that the author is thinking about the wider problem. At some point you will have to match the electricity that you require to be generated against what can be generated by your system. This section gives several tips on how to reduce your energy usage before you being constructing solar cells. It makes you think about your behaviour and habits so, for me, is very good.
3) Before You Start Your Project
a. Here you get an overview of Electrical Fundamentals (e.g. volts, amps, amp-hours, current, power, series and parallel circuits). Although I noticed some typos in the units this section reads well. I would say, however, don’t proceed until you’ve completely understood this; for me it’s vital.
4) Determining the Best PV System for You
a. This section is about determining how much solar energy you can use in your area. There’s a lot of information here so I’ll go slowly. Firstly, there is some high level discussion about what constitutes a good area to generate solar power. Some resources are given for a solar calculator (I couldn’t find the solar calculator at the link www.pvwatt.com in the notes, please help me out if you find it!). There are other resources provided though, I guess the report refers to free online resources which might disappear from time to time!
b. There is some discussion about diffuse radiation (solar radiation is made up of beam (direct), diffuse (radiation that reaches the solar panel indirectly through scattering) and albedo (reflected radiation from the surface) but only general discussion on what to do about it.
c. There is a section plotting sun charts including a resource for plotting the suns trajectory at your location. I tried this below for my Location (London), see below. There is also a description on how to do the measurements yourself although this is a time consuming process (months of work!).
d. Aligning your PV panels. The report seems to assume that, after having plotted your sun charts you will adjust the direction of your solar cells through the year. This is doable but requires an adjustable mount or if you really want to nail this a tracker. There is a general rule of thumb designed to maximise solar energy output across a year and that is that you should align your panels towards the equator at an angle slightly (say 2degrees) less than latitude. I suggest you do this first before getting lost in the details of sun charts an “optimising” your setup. There are other things to consider here too, e.g. do you want power all the time or specific times of year? Are you interested in power in the morning or afternoon or across the whole day.
e. Since sunlight isn’t available 24-7, depending on your requirements you may need a battery; these are now discussed. In particular the importance of not letting them discharge too much (this can shorten the life of a battery). A charge controller can be used to stop this happening. This section is well written although I’d personally like to know the cost of the batteries, off to eBay again I guess!
f. Estimating Your Load Requirements: The report then shows you how to estimate the load for your system. This section makes good sense so I’m happy here!
g. Finally we have a section asking you should you do this all youself (DIY)? Or should you contract all or some of it. This is quite general, I mean of course you could some of it yourself (this is supposed to be a DIY project afterall!) or contract. I feel again that the cost element is missing here, perhaps a link to some contractor sites would be useful. There is also mention that you’ll need to get your system passed through the government regulations prior to using it. There are some resources at the end of the document that may be able to help you (like the U.S govt) but I feel a bit more direction is needed here, after all you don’t want to spend months building those great panels only to find your pride and joy fails on some regulation. That said, the guide does point out that you’ll need to go through a process so at least you’re aware.
5) DIV PV Panel Assembly
a. A step by step guide on what to do is provided next. This reads well and is easy to follow. Importantly the guide says the process may take up to 3-months. There is also a list of tools and materials you will need although no mention of how much these things cost (bit of a theme building here..). A description is given on how to measure up your panels, solder the cells and attach them to casing. There is an accompanying video to help you here.
Finally a list of online resources is provided. I should say at this stage that the product is aimed at the U.S. audience so most of the resources are for the US. This means you will have to find other resources for other parts of the world.
Supplementary Guides
• SolarElectrical Guide: The nuts and bolts of This provides more information on how to size a solar system. This is a vital read providing information such as What a PV System is?, System Setup, Battery’s, Inverters, Step By Step how to size your system, Controlers, Example Residential System. Some wiring diagrams are provided along with details of bypass and blocking diodes used in the solar panel. This guide is 61 pages and you must take time to go through it and understand it. All good stuff!
• Renewable Energy Guide: This is a simple guide to renewable energy. It’s a nice freeby and gives you an overview of some of the other forms of renewable energy available
• Consumer Guide to Renewable Energy: This guide is usefull as it gives you some information about who to contact about regulation and incentives. Subjects covered include rebates, net metering, buy-downs and residential energy rates. Other practical information such as the size of roof area you might need at a given efficiency and PV capacity is provided too. What you’ll need to do to get your panels connected to the grid is discussed, in particular with reference to article 690 of the US National Electrical Code which spells out requirements for designing and installing safe, reliable and compliant systems. There are more resources provided to help you in your local area.
• InstallingMounting: This document provides information about building permits that are required for Solar PV systems. It helps you with the necessary information required to apply for your solar pv system. Plenty of photos and diagrams are also provided to help you with the actual installation of the mountings.
• A bonus document is provided on how to build a wind turbine. I’m not going through this at this stage, we’re here to talk about solar after all!, but I think it’s fair to say it probably has similar content like what I’ve described above.
The Video Content Provided
The following video resources are also provided. They’re provided in quicktime mov format and high quality. The approximate runtimes are given in minutes (mins).
• BuildPanel (42 mins): This video is the main video for building a solar panel. It’s cleanly presented in a step-by-step way. I find the music a little annoying but heh, that’s just me!. I can definitely say the video is high quality and easy to follow. Firstly the tools the presenter uses are shown to you. Some of the tool costs are mentioned but not all, I think an addition would be to provide a costing sheet for all the tools however you definitely get to see exactly what you need. The steps required to measure up and attach your cells to create the panel are explained and demonstrated clearly. You might yourself having to re-watch parts of the video, I’d probably set it up in front of me on my laptop / notebook computer while I worked. Finally you’ll see the cells sealed in place within the panel casing, job done!
• SystemSizing (20 mins): The design and sizing of this system are discussed here. How to reduce your power consumption is analysed before you think about your PV system. I think I mentioned I like this approach above. A trip round your house is taken with different appliances and their energy requirements discussed. The message is reduce your energy consumption and you can reduce your PV system cost. True and definitely worth doing! Load calculations are then shown to you using the Earth4Energy solar calculator. This is done device by device and gives you your expected load.
• Batteries (29 mins): Battery are important to store electricity when you don’t want to use it and provide electricity when there is no sun. Different types are discussed, VRLA and lead acid, with their pros and cons discussed. The information is informative giving your plenty of ideas to think about. I’d still like to know about the cost of this too though.
• ElectricalFundamentals (18 mins): This video is about the fundamentals of electricity and circuits. A really important watch and well presented. Do it in line with the documents.
• Tools (11 mins): This video is specifically about the tools you need. The detail is good in terms of what you need although I’d really like a rough cost list. I’m guessing that the author is expecting most people who do this to already be DIY experts and so already have a lot of the equipment. Just bear it in mind before you proceed. There is a good demonstration of a solar resource website, so you can find out how much sun is in your area.
Summary
Ok, so now we’ve been through the course and you’ve seen what’s in it. So should you go for it? Perhaps a recap to recall what’s there
Pros
• There is a lot of good material, written and videos, and I believe this is a great resource to help you build solar cells and attempt to design your own PV System.
• You should save money against buying retail solar panels if you follow the instructions and avoid issues (breakages / mistakes in the construction).
• When you’ve finished you will have great satisfaction knowing you’ve helped the environment and saved money in the long term.
• It’s undoubtedly a fantastic long term (several months duration) DIY project package and will be a lot of fun to make if you’re a enthusiast!
Cons
• Cost of all the equipment needed to build the cells is not clear. This will depend on your starting point and help is given but buying all the kit could prove expensive.
• You won’t be able build a complete PV system using just the material in course. At least you will need official approval for your system and you may need to hire contractors to help you finish. This will cost and these costs are not clear. That said the course does promise to help you build solar panels and that it does. Connecting them is another matter though.
• A full PV system could still be as expensive as depending on your experience you may cause accidental breakages. You can hire a contractor to help you out or even outsource part of your project.
• No direct support is offered. You can contact the vendor via email on the website though. I didn’t try this.
I like this course and I think it’s a valuable resource. It’s not perfect and anyone undertaking a project like this must think it through. As long as you bear in mind the above points, I think it will be challenging but ultimately rewarding and green energy is the future after all.
Scott
p.s. If you wish to sign-up for the course, please click here.
