Kevin Harcourt – Center for Alternative Fuels

By: chavali
Though you may not be able to completely offset your energy needs by using do-it-yourself energy methods, you can definitely save a lot of money, especially during the recession. There are many things you can implement yourself without any professional help and manage to save over hundreds of dollars a month.

1. Solar panels

Getting solar energy via solar panels has been around for quite some time now, but the technology got very common, and therefore very cheap. For just a few hundred dollars, you can easily buy kits from various manufacturers that will allow anyone with the ability to follow instructions to install their own solar panels and get them running in just a single day.

2. Wind turbines

Like solar panels, wind turbines have been a common piece of technology for a long time, but their prices have recently been crashing down. You don’t necessarily need to buy huge wind turbines designed for farms; they come in all sorts of shapes and sizes now. Like solar panels, wind turbines usually come with kits and very simple instructions for installation. Solar panels could potentially replace all your current energy needs, whether it be heat or light or electricity. There are also mini solar panels that can charge your portable items like cell phones or mp3 players.

3. Invest in a solar cooker

A solar cooker is just a small box that you can cook food in. But it doesn’t require any fuel at all. You can do everything you need to cook food in a solar cooker, whether it be boiling, roasting, or even baking. Imagine how many times you’ve cooked meals in your life and the amount of fuel and energy it consumes, and how much money you can save if you start using solar cookers.

4. Water

Hydroelectricity has been a powerful source of energy for centuries. Water is one of the most powerful forces on Earth. Moving water is the source of all this energy. Imagine how much energy is in a waterfall! The main trouble with hydroelectricity, however, is location. If you don’t have a large water source nearby, then there’s no way for you to actually harness the power of water and utilize hydroelectricity.

5. Just don’t use so much energy

You’d be surprised at how much energy is actually wasted every day. Leaving the water on when you brush your teeth or leaving the TV on the entire night when you go to bed. All of that adds up and it can be costing you a lot of money. Try to cut back on the amount of energy you use as a lot of it is unnecessary. Don’t leave all the lights on in every room in the house, just the ones you need.

Alternative energy sources can do wonders to your wallet and to the environment. You can easily utilize the natural resources around you for more eco-friendly power rather than paying your electric company. Though installation of these alternative sources can be both time-consuming and costly, it is nothing compared to the amount of money you will save in the long-run.