As you drive home from work and through your neighborhood, you may start noticing more and more houses with solar panels on the roof. Converting to a greener renewable energy is becoming a popular wave among homeowners, so you might be thinking of doing the same. How much can you really save by investing in solar panels, though? The short answer is a lot. To realize why, you have to first understand how solar energy works and why it's better for the environment, your home, and your utility bill.

The Basics

The process of gathering energy from the sun can be broken into four simple steps even the best solar panels follow. First, sunlight hits the panels and they absorb the energy, creating an electric current. They then send this energy through a converter, which turns the sunlight energy into usable energy for your home. This energy flows into your breaker box and is used to power your home. If your home is still connected to the grid, then your unused energy can flow into that power source and be stored for days when you need a little extra.

Solar Panels

Integral to this process is the solar panel, or solar photovoltaic panel. These panels are made of two layers of crystalized silicon with added impurities to make it a better conductor. The bottom layer usually contains boron, for a positive charge, and the top layer has phosphorus, for a negative charge.

The space between these two layers is called a junction, and it's here that electrons can move from the positive to negative charge and create an electric field. When sunlight hits the panels, it releases a burst of electrons from either side, which produces a current that's funneled into an external circuit that channels the energy created into the converter mentioned above.

Types of Solar Cells

A solar cell is just another name for a device that turns sunlight into energy, like solar panels. Solar cells come in three types: single-crystal, polycrystalline, and thin film cells.

Single-crystal cells are produced in cylinders and then divided into thin slices. They are the most labor-intensive to create but also offer the highest efficiency. They can convert the most sunlight into the most energy of all three types.

Polycrystalline cells are made of melted silicon that's placed in bar-shaped molds and then sliced into squares after they cool. The cost to produce and efficiency are both lower in this model, and they make up about half of the cells used in solar power worldwide.

Finally there are thin film cells, which involve taking a metal or plastic base and spraying a thin coat of conductive material on top. This process allows manufacturers to make the entire panel at once, instead of having to assemble individual cells after production. It has even lower costs than the polycrystalline cells but also lower efficiency. These are by far the least popular models in solar energy.

Efficiency

Now that you know the types of solar panels and which are most efficient, you can consider how effective you need the solar panels on your own house to be. If you're living off-grid and using them as your main source of energy, you'll need much more efficient panels than if you live in a subdivision and are just trying to cut down electricity costs.

As mentioned, the polycrystalline cell is the most typical type you'll find in commercial solar panels. These have about a 23% efficiency, meaning they capture about 23% of sunlight and turn that into energy for your home. The more affordable options, however, capture about 15%-18%. So, before you buy, be sure to weigh your energy needs and determine your budget to choose the right panels for you.

Solar energy is a great alternative energy source, and knowing all about it can help you make an educated decision about how and when to convert.