Very important to building your own solar collector will be step by step solar energy plans that you are able to follow. Of course, a solar collector may appear to be difficult to construct; but, actually, it is not that much of a challenge if you are able to follow well-designed solar energy plans.

The First Step

Before you do anything else, you need to make sure that you clearly understand the difference between solar collectors and panels. This is necessary before you even examine any solar energy plans. Solar collectors are what actually harvest the solar energy in the form of heat, while it is the solar panels that reap solar energy in the form of electricity.

Another difference is that solar collectors make use of the greenhouse effect. On the other hand, solar panels convert radiant energy into electricity and today are only really cost effective in remote off-grid areas with a price of about $5/watt.

Materials

There is quite a list of materials that you are going to need for your solar energy plans. These will include two rolls of 50-foot 20” aluminum flashing, four 0.06 thick 4×8 sheets of Kalwall, twenty 1×4x8 pine boards with few or no knots, four 1/2×4x8 CDX plywood, four 1×4x8 sheets of insulation with an R value 5 or better, clear silicon caulking, aluminum foil, some felt paper, one gallon of roofing tar, one gallon of oil base paint, angle irons for mounting, sixteen 1/4×3 lag bolts, sixteen 1/4×1 1/2”  machine bolts with nuts and washers, 1 ¼”  and 2”  drywall screws, one pound of 1 ½”  galvanized nails with small heads, and plumbing supplies.

The actual process that will take place will depend on what specific solar energy plans you have. However, the advantages that you will gain will typically remain the same, regardless of the particular plans that you are using.

Advantages

There can be very serious advantages to using solar energy. It will be possible for you to save more than $50,000 in hot water and home heating costs if you can afford to spend $2,000 and have a few weeks of labor available to invest for this work. If your use of the sun’s energy is done with efficiency, your consumption could easily be pared down to half, since average American households consume from 1,000 to 2,000 gallons of number two oil per annum. You might even be able to eliminate other fuels entirely, which is certainly the ultimate goal to strive for.