The Solar Power Quest: Preface

Hey guys

As some of you may be aware, one of my summer projects will be to power a portion of my room with solar power. During the next few months I'll (hopefully) go from having a lack of knowledge of solar energy and EE (electrical engineering) to having a usable solar array. This blog will detail my findings, failures, and successes. Hopefully in the end you will realize (as I'm trying to) that anyone can install and enjoy solar energy in their home.

About me

To make you believe that you can do this, I'll tell you a little about myself. The closest experience to solar power I have is using a calculator with a solar panel. I've taken physics I, and physics II and have forgotten nearly everything. I don't deal with any electrical engineering on an average day. I'm a 22 year old undergraduate computer science major in Chicago IL. Sure, we don't receive as much sun as other locations, but I'm very interested in attempting this. I'm highly motivated when it comes to self-learning and exploration. I have a desire to make this work, so hopefully I'm able to before this desire flame burns out.

So there you have it. I'm the average college student. If you feel you have a similar attitude, personality, and desire maybe you can gain some insight form my posts.

About my goal

I live with my parents -- I had to get that out of the way. No, its not cool! But it allows me to save a lot of money till I can afford my own place, and gives me a chance to spend money on these whimsical ideas, instead of rent (Yes I have a girlfriend...but on to my goals!). I want to power just my bedroom. Nothing extravagant, just enough to get my lips wet and gain a better understanding for when I own my own place so I can execute a similar project on a larger scale -- or at least not be in the dark/ignorant when a contractor is telling me about x and y.

I'm hoping to power the following devices which I have in my room:

• 24'' flat screen TV
• DirectTV receiver
• Macbook with external monitor
• AppleTV
• IPhone charger (In case you haven't noticed I like apple things)
• Clock
• Several light, some energy efficient, some not.
  
• Small fountain
  

With that said, I'm not attempting to tap solar power into the current electrical system in my house - called "on-grid" power. Instead, what I'll be doing is having dedicated outlets which when I plug into will draw power from renewable energy - called "off-grid" power. I envision having a battery bank which charges during the day from power generated by the solar panels. At night I can then plug into the batteries to draw power when I return home.

Here is a quick little imagine to better describe it:[1]

So in short, that is what I hope to accomplish. Oh, another small task...very small...convince my dad to let me drill into his roof and install a bunch of ugly solar panels....I'm sure he'll be phyched.[2]

If you want to start researching immediately, here are two quick sites to get your introduced:

• http://www.gepower.com/prod_serv/products/solar/en/faqs/resid_sys.htm#faq2
• http://otherpower.com/