We definitely do not belong to the stone- age anymore, so we all need electricity to power all our appliances like electric stoves, television, microwave oven, heating and air conditioning system, coffee maker to gadgets like MP3 players, phone chargers, headphones, laptops, cameras and the like. Electric energy is now added to the list of our basic needs. What if we can fabricate or invent something that can help us save some costs in electricity bills? What about some homemade electricity that can help support our need for such energy?
Is it possible to build our own electric generator? The answer may be a bit surprising, but then, YES. We can build our own electric generator.
Similar to heat energy and light energy, electricity is another form of energy. However, it is a fact that there is the only very little natural occurring electric sources but the beauty and wisdom of nature offer conversion of other forms of energy to produce electric energy to subsidize its insufficiency. In so doing, the electric energy or the electricity we enjoy right now is a by-product of converting any energy source to electricity. This is true in windmills and waterfalls that help provide us electricity.
Aside from the two mentioned, there are other methods in generating much- needed power. The use of solar panels can help produce homemade electricity. What are solar panels? These, simply said, are conduits in converting light energy to electricity. Photovoltaic cells make up a solar panel. The light rays coming from the sun, triggers the photovoltaic cells to produce power or voltage. Although the voltage produced is rather not adequate, a connection or intertwining of these cells may help generate the voltage requirement to make appliances work. Solar panels, on the other hand, can be costly, too. Well, you can think “green” by using solar panels (that’s still being environment friendly) but then, solar panels have a low efficiency rating as associated with electric generators, making it really expensive and sometimes, unaffordable.
The wind is such a powerful natural source that can power our homes. A wind generator can convert wind to electricity by connecting the wind generator to a turbine that is rotated by the wind. As the turbine functions in gathering the required wind energy, the wind generator or the dynamo, in effect, changes the wind’s mechanical force to electricity. Wind generators are great providers of homemade electricity, much more effective than the solar panels. What makes it difficult to do, is how to locate the area where the wind is constantly blowing.
It is encouraging to know that we can actually produce homemade electricity, but the basics of homemade electricity require sources of nature like sunlight and wind. Solar panels need the sun while wind generators require strong winds. The best option is to store the accumulated energy into batteries, although it can be dangerous at times due to short circuits.