"Going Green" is on just about everyone’s mind now days. Many of us have jumped on board and are doing everything we can to help the revolution. Many have started the boarding process and are doing a little at a time and others are just starting out. No matter which step you are at, the key to success is doing your research. As most of us have heard before "knowledge is power." And in the case of "going green" we are literally talking about power, or at least the amount of it we use and where we get it from.
The internet is absolutely bombarded with companies and advertisements concerning the green revolution. Many of these companies are very legitimate and are truly taking steps to help mother earth, while others are simply trying to capitalize on the movement. You can literally find hundreds or thousands of "green" products out there for sale, everything from rain collection barrels to solar lighting for your walkway. In this article we are going to discuss do-it-yourself solar panels and wind turbines. Due to a few advances in the industry over the past few years it has become very inexpensive to actually build your own systems and literally power your complete home from these systems, in effect never having to pay the power companies again. Because of these advances and the ability to build inexpensive systems there has been a boom of internet websites promoting the practice.
These "Green Energy" websites are capitalizing on the green diy movement by offering books or guides that teach individuals how to build these power systems themselves. Most advertise that you can build your own solar panel or wind turbine for under $200. If you perform a Google search for "diy solar panels" or even just "solar panels" alone, you will find hundreds of sites offering these guides. So many in fact that it becomes overwhelming to weed through them. We are about to give you some pointers as to how to choose the right ones.
We literally scanned and read through dozens of these green energy websites. What we found was that most of them are offering the same information just packaged in different brightly colored packages. All of the websites sell what is known as an eBook. This is an electronic book that you download from their website, usually in.pdf format. There are a few things you should look at when evaluating which of these sites to trust and possibly purchase your guide from.
When have I last looked on
The round green eyes and the long wavering bodies
Of the dark leopards of the moon?
All the wild witches, those most noble ladies,
For all their broom-sticks and their tears,
Their angry tears, are gone.
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
- First and probably most important is to look at their Money Back offer. Do they offer a truly risk-free guarantee? Make sure you read the fine print to ensure there isn’t a catch.
- Second, do you get other items as well as your diy guide? Most offer tax savings info, parts guides and other bonus information.
- Next, do you get to download the information directly after you make your purchase, or do you have to wait for someone to respond to you?
- Try out their customer service. Send them an email to ask a question and see how long it takes to get a reply.
It was, perhaps, even a more grand and desolate place for a night’s lodging than the summit would have been, being in the neighborhood of those wild trees, and of the torrent. Some more ærial and finer-spirited winds rushed and roared through the ravine all night, from time to time arousing our fire, and dispersing the embers about. It was as if we lay in the very nest of a young whirlwind. At midnight, one of my bed-fellows, being startled in his dreams by the sudden blazing up to its top of a fir tree, whose green boughs were dried by the heat, sprang up, with a cry, from his bed, thinking the world on fire, and drew the whole camp after him.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
- Does the site look like a copy of all the other sites you’ve seen, or does it look original?
- Do their videos appear professionally made, clear and can you hear the audio well?
These are just a few of the items you can use to verify the validity of the sites you are looking at. One review site that exist out there is MySolarReview.com which has taken most of the guess work out of the equation for you by providing reviews of 6 of the top DIY Green Energy sites.
Simply make sure you do a little research before you decide which DIY website to purchase your guide from.