As the co-owner of a California property that has never been tied to the electric grid, I can attest to the warm feeling of self-sufficiency that comes with a functioning solar power system. We’ve ...

Heating water is one of the most energy-consuming and costly household tasks. According to the Department of Energy, it makes up roughly 18% of a standard home's monthly energy budget. And if you use ...

Jeff Somers is a freelancer who has been writing about writing, books, personal finance, and home maintenance since 2012. When not writing, Jeff spends his free time fixing up his old house. He has ...

The best solar cells have an energy conversion efficiency of 30 pecent. This means that 70 percent of the collected energy is lost rather than stored. Improvements have been made under test conditions ...

A greenhouse is a great way to raise your own plants and produce. They work, in part, by using the sun's rays and the natural greenhouse effect to create a warm, humid environment in which many plants ...

California-based Apparent Inc. has unveiled a new water heater that can reportedly offset 100% of a home’s water heating cost. The system uses low-voltage DC electricity generated by conventional ...

Q: Based on our water bills, my family uses lots of water and much of it is probably hot water. Is there a simple solar hot water system design that I could build myself? A: Heating water can account ...