5 Solar Energy Applications That’ll Make You Say ‘Wow!’

There are a lot of people who trying to figure out if there are enough uses for solar power to justify the hefty price tag that is associated with solar energy. To help you with your search for solar energy uses, we’ve created a short list of 5 solar energy applications that are cool, practical, and even budget friendly.

There’s even an item on our list that seems to be a step in the right direction and prove to be really useful for everyone!

Solar Water Heater

Solar water heaters are versatile and a practical option, especially if you love a good hot shower after a long day at work. They use the sun to heat up the water, which allows your hot water tank use less electricity or natural gas. You can upgrade your current hot water system to a solar powered one for $4,000 to $6,000. A hefty price, but worth it in the long term.

Solar Powered Ventilation

One reason why people tend not to use the fans in their home is because they don’t really understand the point of them and there’s no sense of wasting electricity. Well, fans in your home are used to move the air around.

While we do tend to use them in the bathroom to get rid of steam from the shower or after using the bathroom, the fans also can help lower heating and cooling costs, too. With that in mind, you’d probably be more inclined to use the fans more often if they the used solar energy, right?

Heating Your Pool With Solar Energy

Swimming in a pool is one of the highlights of the summer. When you get in the pool on a blistering hot day, the water is luke-warm, sometimes it feels like you’re slipping into a comfortable bath. You can have that year round by installing a solar blanket to your pool.

Of course, you can install a solar hot water heating system and it’ll work too. For this use of solar energy, solar panels are mounted to your roof and it’ll collect the sun’s heat, which is then circulated to the pool.

Solar Roads

The company, Solar Roadways, is creating a new road surface that is made up of hexagonal solar panel. These panels collect the suns energy, and overtime, it’ll pay for itself. Road markings made from LED strips and heating elements for snow/ice prevention can be added to the new roadways.

With these sort of advancements, it could revolutionize parking garages, roads, and motorways. Just think of how cool that would be during the winter, driving on a road during a blizzard without worrying (too much at least) about ice and snow.

Solar Screens

Passive solar energy, or solar curtains/screens, can be added to the home to regulate when (and where) the sun can shine in your home. This is a great bit of tech for people who work at night and need to sleep during the day.

Or, if you want to lessen the burden on your HVAC systems, they can do that too. If you do have the ability to incorporate this into your home, you could see your HVAC bill drop by as much as 50%!

The Future Is In Solar Energy Applications

For too long, humans have been relying on harmful ways to create energy when we have the largest source of energy readily available—92.96 million miles away. Instead of relying on power generators and mining fossil fuels that will eventually run out, it makes sense to harness the sun’s power.

These 5 solar energy applications are just the top of the iceberg of where solar energy could go in the future. We just hope more people start educating themselves on solar energy and choose to use solar power in their own homes. It’s only a matter of time before solar energy replaces conventional means of power—hopefully it happens sooner rather than later!