In this day and age, is there anybody who can survive twenty fours hours without electricity? I won't. There are a myriad of reasons why I can't. But with my electricity expense eating a big chunk of my household budget, I am faced with several options. One option is to cut down on my consumption of appliances that cost more like the airconditioner and water heater. Another one is to find alternative sources of power.
1. Cut down on consumption of aircon and water heater. Me, cut down on my aircon hours and take a shower of icy water? That is out of the question! No matter how much the kilowatt/hour rate is, that is unthinkable. Another thing that I could not live without is my internet connection. My laptop wakes up when I wake up and goes to sleep when I go to sleep. My internet connection is my sort of lifeline to my virtual world. Do you know that I own a farm in Farmville and has amassed 15M in FV money? Lol.
2. Look for alternatives. Since it is obvious that I can't compromise the number of consumption hours, I have to be creative in thinking of ways to pay less while consuming more. My husband said that we have to replace our present appliances with those of newer and more efficient technology, like the inverter technology. Airconditioners, refrigerators are the first appliances to be available in inverter technology. With this technology, usage is maximized while saving a lot of energy and of course, money.
There is an alternative source of power that most of us are not aware are using it already for the longest time. It comes free and is very abundant in tropical countries. I am talking about solar energy. What is solar energy? Solar energy is simply energy from the sun. For centuries, people have been using solar energy in such simple tasks as drying of clothes, food and what have you.
What can a private individual do to maximize solar energy? For residences and business establishments, it entails the installation of solar panels on the roof to catch the sun's rays. The solar panels convert the sun's rays into electricity that could be used to empower airconditioners, refrigerators, heaters and other appliances. The number of solar panels to be installed would depend on the electrical consumption. A higher consumption would require more solar panels.
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| Solar panels on the roof of the house. |
Although solar energy has a lot of advantages like it saves money as it is free; it is environment friendly as it is clean, sustainable and renewable; and is easy to maintain, the main drawback for its use is the big initial cost in installing the solar energy system. The recovery period for the initial investment will depend on the amount of electricity used. The bigger consumption, the shorter time to recover the initial investment. Once this has been recovered, solar energy is practically free.
Solar energy is one area that the Philippine government should invest in as the country enjoys many months of sunny weather. It should encourage the use of solar energy by making financing for this undertaking available to everyone. If banks can lend money for a house and lot in the form of real estate financing, what is stopping them from providing financing for the installation of solar panels? What a waste if we don't do anything to store this energy that is God-given, abundant and free at that.
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