Earth4Energy Review

As a result of increasing costs of home electricity, more and more consumers are investigating the possibility of using alternative energy sources to supplement or replace their reliance on traditional electric companies.

According to the Energy Information Administration’s Official Energy Statistics from the US Government, the average cost of a residential kilowatt hour in 2008 was $0.1049. In 2009, prices have risen to an average of $0.1128 – a 7.5% increase.

Two alternative energy sources available to many homeowners
are solar and wind generated power.

However, the cost of a full home installation is still prohibitive due to the manufacturing costs of the photovoltaic cells needed to make solar panels.  Those costs have slowly come down, but not yet sufficiently to make the payback of a full installation a value proposition for many homeowners.

One way to harness at least some of the sun’s energy in order to reduce your electric bills is to make your own solar panels and complete much of the installation process yourself.  Several manuals are available online that walk through the step by step instructions for making your own solar panels.  One such guide is called Earth4Energy, an ebook and video instruction package that covers a number of projects to help build your own solar panels and wind generator.

In my Earth4Energy review, I considered the product from several angles as a gauge for its overall value.  Would it help the beginner build a working solar panel?  Does it live up to its claims?  Could you really reduce your electric bill with a DIY solar panel built from the instructions in the package?

Product Contents:

• Introduction to Solar Energy – information on how solar energy is collected and used plus an overview of all of the components that go into using solar energy to supply power to a home.

• Building Your Solar Panel – instruction guide for obtaining and assembling the parts of a solar panel.

• Solar Help Package – includes several small bundles of information such as a calculator for determining number of solar panels needed for your home project, how to install and attach solar panels to your home, tax forms to take care of energy credits offered by the government, and wiring instructions for residential use.

• Earth4Energy Video Series – video demonstrations of the most critical steps in building your own solar panel.  Complements the written manual.

• Make a Wind Turbine – Instruction manual for making your own wind turbine for generating power through capture and conversion of wind.

• Info Video Series – a set of videos with additional information about solar and wind power, instructions for some of the more complicated steps involved in making your solar panels, and overall information regarding the use of solar energy for your home.

Product Claims:

• Save money by making your own solar panels as compared to buying a completed panel.

• Installing solar panels on your home increases your home’s value.

• Anyone can make a solar panel regardless of experience.

• Reduce your electricity bill.

• Make a solar panel that generates up to 120W of power.  Attach several together to generate as much as 1KW of power for your home.

Pros:

• Over two hours of videos rounds out the information provided in the written manuals making the steps easier to understand and carry out.

• Suggestions for saving money on the parts needed to make a solar panel that might not be easily found by many consumers.

• Money back guarantee provides peace of mind when purchasing this guide.  As a 3rd party facilitates the purchase of the product, recourse for filing for a return is easy and follows standard online purchase practices through a secure environment.

• Free updates available through the members’ section to which all buyers have access.

• Technical support contact information available if you have questions.

Cons:

• Written directions not as detailed as they could be.  Made up for with video instructions.

• Sources suggested for low cost parts may not be as available as suggested meaning the price of making the solar panel may well be higher than advertised.  However, if diligent in following their suggestions you may find quality parts at a reasonable price and still save considerably vs. the cost of buying manufactured components.

• Stated potential savings are based on building many solar panels.  Most consumers would have a difficult time building a complete system to take their house off grid.

Summary:

The product contains more than 70 pages of information, instructions, diagrams and images on how make your own solar panel, tap into alternative energy sources for home energy production, and instructions on building your own wind turbine.

The instructions are detailed and demonstrate the author’s knowledge of the process and project.

Much of the information in the guide could be found on the internet for free but would require hours of your time in searching for and hunting down valid information.  More than anything, what you are getting for your money is the time saved in having to do your own research and the value of the video series which is hard to find anywhere else.

If you are serious about saving money, it could easily be worth the price of the built in time savings alone. Because the information you need is in one place, you do not have to spend your time hunting down and validating independent sources of all of the information you would need around the necessary components, how to build the solar panels, where to find the parts for less, attaching them to your home, how to follow UL regulations for safe installation plus the additional information provided in the video series and the wind turbine manual.  Only you can decide how much your time is worth and how much you might prefer the additional video instructions when working on building your own solar panels.

Based on the current price of $49.97, the potential for savings and the money back guarantee, this is a very low risk investment with lots of useful content. Visit the Earth4Energy website to learn more.