Place the bottle in the shade and allow the meter to go down below ten. Finally, you have created your own solar cell. More on Building You can expect to finish the entire process in just 3 to 4 hours. It is important that you check out the different available resources first at your local hardware store and online so that you can get the most out of your budget. Getting a solar energy system for your home or work place these days would actually help you save some money on the total cost of your utility bills annually. However, this particular benefit is not necessarily immediate, as there are some other costs that you need to consider. Nonetheless, using solar thermal systems would allow you to get back the total cost within 5 years of installation, and 15 years for photovoltaic panels, after which, you can then enjoy the benefits of cutting down the total cost for your energy consumption. Photovoltaic Panels Photovoltaic panels are solar energy panels that convert solar energy and turn them into electricity that you can use to power up most of your appliances and household lighting, and should only be used for those particular uses. Unfortunatley, among the solar energy systems that are in the market, photovoltaic panels are considered to be one of the more expensive ones, if not the most expensive in the solar energy market today. You will observe that the colors change as the copper starts to oxidize, and gently transform to black. Let the copper stay on the burner for about 40 minutes or up to the time that a thick coat of oxidized black material turns up. Turn the heat off on the burner, then let the copper cool in the air. Air-based systems will have to rely on rock bins to contain the heated air. Solar energy distribution is the third component which is based on the kind of system. The Types There are 3 types of active solar applications that you can readily use in the home namely active solar pool heating, active solar space heating and active solar water heating. Things to Power Nowadays, solar energy can power a variety of objects such as homes, offices, cars, small light fixtures, toys and calculators. You can now rely on the sun to help you minimize utility and electric bills. You can even see a number of vehicles now solely powered by the sun. The disadvantage to the approach is that the power may tend to fluctuate depending on the sunlight available.