Want to reap the benefits of plentiful solar power, but want or need to avoid installing solar panels on the roof of your home?
Whether you’re worried about aesthetics, lack adequate sun-exposed roof, or have a homeowner’s association to contend with, don’t worry—there are countless ways for a savvy person to benefit from solar power in 2019, from ground based solar panels in terrestrial systems to personal devices with built-in solar charging.
Here are our top 16 ways of getting access to solar power in your home, without putting panels on your roof.
Solar power ground mounted
The most obvious and potent potential alternative to roof panels is, of course, solar power ground mounted alternatives. With improvements to technology in recent years, it’s never been easier to get an effective, efficient solar ground mount system in place, as long as you have a bright enough sun and enough land to suit terrestrial systems.
Systems vary from simple panels like those used in a solar power farm to ingenuitive designs, such as those made by solar carports manufacturers.
Wall panels
Is the ground not an option? It may be possible to install some PV panels solar collectors on the side of your home or other structures, such as fences, pools, sheds, or garages! This option can be potent, but you’ll be limited to structures with the right facing; it doesn’t take much of an angle to drastically cut the amount of sunlight your PV panels solar system will be exposed to.
Solar carports manufacturers often include designs which combine the best aspects of ground panels and wall panels, using every available inch of space on your carport to gather energy. A single multi-mount wall mount can hold a number of panels, making for an easy installation anywhere you have a wall.
Solar power plug
A simple miniature solar power array can give you a single plug in your home or outside to rely on; it won’t power your entertainment system 24/7, but it’ll let you turn sun shining through your windows into clean, free energy for smaller devices. A multi-mount wall mount in the right place can do even more!
Solar power converters/adapters
Solar power converters work as a low-cost alternative to complex installations, allowing you to purchase a portion of a solar energy certificate to supplement your usage of normal grid electricity. You may also be able to purchase or rent charged solar cells green to power your devices before switching over to traditional electricity when they run dry.
Solar roads
An exciting new technology still in the early phases of testing and introduction, solar roads may become an incredible source of power for private use or for public clean energy power. This could add a whole new layer to the idea of terrestrial systems and ground based solar panels; panels and systems that are literally in the ground!
Solar backpack
Whether you’re traveling the great outdoors or sitting on the bus trying to keep busy, a solar backpack can give you an excellent source of solar power for all your favorite devices on the go. Solar cells green credentials matter, though, so make sure you look close at what you’re buying; a poorly constructed solar backpack can be worse than a simple battery powered charger.
Solar powered grids
Make sure you look into the availability of energy sourced from solar farms available through your local power grid. In many areas of the world, governments, non-profits, and private energy companies alike are investing in building full solar farms connected into the public grid—which means you may already be able to use proper solar power with your normal home power lines.
Solar sharing
The communal approach to solar energy offers a lot of benefits, not to least of which is avoiding unsightly solar panels on your home.
Portable solar generators
A portable solar generator can give you a lot of options for solar power at home, on the road, at a work site, and everywhere else. You just need to figure out what you’re aiming to charge, how much space you’ll have to work with, and what your budget for a generator is.
Solar lights
One great way to make use of solar power without needing a full panel is to leverage solar lighting fixtures inside or outside of your home. These lights charge up during the day, taking in enough energy to stay lit for most or all of the night, depending on the intensity and size of the light in question. This is especially popular as a light source in areas where you couldn’t easily run electrical lines, or for use in exterior lighting like security lights.
Solar pumps
Solar-powered water pumps are increasingly popular in essentially any system where you need water pumps; your normal indoor plumping, cooling systems on commercial systems, swimming pool systems, and more. These pumps mostly work on standard solar energy standards, converting solar energy into electricity to drive the pumps, but more exotic designs are in the works.
Solar bikes
You can spare the environment and your wallet with a solar powered electric bicycle, simply by keeping it in the sunlight when you’re not using it. This takes up even less space than a solar ground mount system.
Solar water heating
Solar water heating is especially effective, since there’s less energy wasted and simpler mechanics involved in producing heat from the sun; some rudimentary solar heating solutions can function simply by letting the sun heat the water directly, in the right environment. More complex systems, such as those you might use to heat water for steamy hot showers, can combine this sort of healing with solar energy cells to convert sunlight to heating electricity.
Solar cookers
A solar cooker is a particularly interesting piece of solar technology, as they rarely rely on solar cells and instead rely directly on the energy of the sun to cook your food. By carefully controlling rays of sunlight with a reflecting surface, huge amounts of heat energy can be focused onto your food to boil water, steam vegetables, roast meat, etc.
For simple designs, you can treat a solar cooker as an environmentally friendly alternative to grilling, an outdoor cooking method you can enjoy from time to time; more complex designs can be right in your kitchen, capturing light outside and bringing it inside to cook for you as a regular appliance.
Solar charged devices
A bit of research will turn up hundreds of minor appliances and personal devices available now with solar charging solutions, miniature panels attached to traditional USB or AC adapter chargers, devices with solar panels build directly into the device, etc. You just need to do your homework to make sure you’re buying something that can meet your needs consistently enough to see regular use, instead of being a novelty you sit on a shelf because it can’t hold a charge.
Peer-to-peer solar
If an individual or community near you owns and maintains a solar power farm, you may be able to borrow or purchase solar energy directly from these neighbors when they have excess. This type of small-scale solar power purchase is a great option if you live in an area with neighbors who’ve already made the investment in solar—especially if there’s enough sunlight to provide excess.
Parting thoughts
There are dozens of ways to acquire clean energy power from the sun these days, but only some of them will work for your life, your environment, and your budget. Do your homework, and reap the benefits–but buy without thinking, and you may regret it.
