No, well at least not for us, not at first.

The problem is that we will be needing a reasonable amount of electricity.
Because we will work from home using computers, which means a constant usage of power.

So what is the problem you might say, through a couple of solar panels on the roof and you are done.
I wish it were that simple.

It depends on a lot of things:

Location

If you live in for example Spain, the sun will shine a lot more then in Belgium. During the summer we can make do with a couple of solar panels but during the winter it is a whole different story  (in Januari only 1.6 hours and up to 6.8 in June, on average per day).

Solar Panel

It is the same with anything else in life, expensive solar panels have more revenue and there is a lot of choice. Finding the right solar panel is a challenge and the technology advances rapidly. The market for solar panels is one of the fast growing ones in the world so you can bet that they will improve immensely in the future.

Batteries

You need to store the electricity generated from the solar panels but wouldn’t it be great if you can store it for more then a few days, that way if there are a couple of overcast days you can still turn on the light. There is a lot of development in battery land. I just read that Panasonic is developing a battery that can store power for a week!

This al sounds fantastic but you still need enough solar panels to create enough kWh during winter time.

Then there are inverters, cables and more of those things to consider which will all determine how much power we will really have available.

So no, we wont go off the grid right away, we can’t afford it really, we more or less calculated we need about 16 solar panels installed to have enough energy during wintertime, that is at least 16.000 Euro and we won’t be able to afford it.

These 16 solar panels are calculated on the amount of electricity we use in our current (non energy efficient) house.

Of course we will use less energy in the new house, we will use energy saving appliances, LED lights, the whole deal. But let’s be honest here, I want to live comfortable, I don’t mind, that on cloudy winter days I will have to avoid using the washing machine as much as I can but I don’t want to spend my evenings reading a book by candle light because we are out of juice.

So what we are going to do is start On the Grid and buy a few solar panels and expand in time in the hope that Solar panels and battery’s will improve so we won’t have to cover the whole house in solar panels to be able to go Off the Grid.

Besides Solar panels there is Wind power.
But is it an alternative?
Next time I will tell you if it is for us.

This is just to easy, even I could make it. you could save a bundle on money if you would need one of these. Watch the video at VideoJug.

This article was posted in the New York Times on December the 18th 2007.

If you want to know more about Nanosolar check out their website.

Nanosolar, a heavily financed Silicon Valley start-up whose backers include Google’s co-founders, plans to announce Tuesday that it has begun selling its innovative solar panels, which are made using a technique that is being held out as the future of solar power manufacturing.

The company, which has raised $150 million and built a 200,000-square-foot factory here, is developing a new manufacturing process that “prints” photovoltaic material on aluminum backing, a process the company says will reduce the manufacturing cost of the basic photovoltaic module by more than 80 percent.

Nanosolar, which recently hired a top manufacturing executive from I.B.M., said that it had orders for its first 18 months of manufacturing capacity. The photovoltaic panels will be made in Silicon Valley and in a second plant in Germany.

While many photovoltaic start-up companies are concentrating on increasing the efficiency with which their systems convert sunlight, Nanosolar has focused on lowering the manufacturing cost. Its process is akin to a large printing press, rather than the usual semiconductor manufacturing techniques that deposit thin films on silicon wafers.

Nanosolar’s founder and chief executive, Martin Roscheisen, claims to be the first solar panel manufacturer to be able to profitably sell solar panels for less than $1 a watt. That is the price at which solar energy becomes less expensive than coal.

“With a $1-per-watt panel,” he said, “it is possible to build $2-per-watt systems.”

According to the Energy Department, building a new coal plant costs about $2.1 a watt, plus the cost of fuel and emissions, he said.

The first Nanosolar panels are destined for a one-megawatt solar plant to be installed in Germany on a former landfill owned by a waste management company. The plant, being developed by Beck Energy, is expected to initially supply electrical power for about 400 homes.

The company chose to build its plant in southern San Jose, news that was cheered by local development officials. Much of the microelectronics industry created here has moved to Asia and new factories are a rare commodity in Silicon Valley.