Lately we’ve been discussing the different ways you can use solar power in your home. From the kitchen to the bathroom to the bedroom, we’ve explored how harnessing solar energy is not just about panels and wires. Now, let’s move out of the more private or practical areas of the home and into the living room. That room where we spend time with family and friends, where we spend our hard-earned leisure time, where you’ll find the heart of any home.

South Facing Windows Are the Ticket

If there is one pervading theme you’ll recognize as we explore the art of ‘Going Solar,’ it is daylighting. This passive solar technique, as old as building itself, is especially multifunctional in terms of the living room. Large south-facing (if possible) windows will not only let in natural light and help heat the main living space, but also open your home up to the view, the patio or deck, and/or your landscape.

The Curtains to Come

And, like icing on a cake, you may soon be able to put some solar curtains over those big living room windows and harness the sun’s energy even when you’d rather keep cool. This ambitious innovation may not only change the way we go solar in the living room, but change the solar home as a whole.

Solar Computing

Computers are getting to be as common as televisions in the American home, and the living room, or an offshoot such as a den, is a common home for the computer. A place where the whole family has easy, unimposing access. That being said, the computer is a big consumer of energy and often adds a considerable amount to the monthly energy bill. Now you can inexpensively use the sun to power your computer, and perhaps some of those other living room gadgets.

Remember, electricity generated by PV panels are typically converted to usable power with an inverter and connected to your home’s power grid; so in essence, all the electric devices in your home, including your living room lights, can potentially be solar generated. Get in touch with a qualified solar contractor to get the process started!

Posted on July 16th in Going Solar by Dan.