Wine Bottle Labels

Because energy has become more and more costly, many people are looking for ways to lower the costs of their energy bills. There have been a few energy alternatives that have become available in the past couple of years to help with this. Solar energy and wind power to name a couple. Due to the high costs of manufacturing solar cells. solar energy is one of the most expensive ones. There are still ways to use the sun to cut down on energy costs to lower your energy bills. Here are a few ideas.

It is easy to make your own low-cost solar powered water heater by using your grill from the back of an old refrigerator you no longer use. This can be used as a heat collector. You will first need to cut the grill off after you have made sure to drain all of the coolant out. Using a discarded door mat as a backing, put the grill in the frame. You will want to use a piece of glass to put on top of the frame to keep in the heat. For entry and exit ports attach hoses to the grill to heat the water. You will want to install the heater in a place where it will get a lot of sun light. After that put the end of the hose into a bucket of cold water and the other end in an empty bucket to collect the hot water. This will be very hot water so be very careful.

You can also make a low-cost solar energy oven that can cook hotdogs. You will need two cardboard boxes, aluminum foil, black spray paint and white glue. To make it, first tape shut the top flats on the larger box, then cut a hole in it to place the smaller box inside. Then decide how big you want the oven to be (it should be deep enough to accommodate your biggest pot) and cut the sides of the inner box up to that height. Glue aluminum foil to the inside of the boxes. Then make a drip pan using a piece of cardboard pasted with aluminum foil on one side and painted black; place this at the bottom of the oven to absorb the solar energy.

To complete the process make a removable lid for your oven that is also used as a reflector flap. To do this, cut a rectangle on the lid on three sides just about as big as the oven opening. Then glue aluminum on it to reflect the light from the sun to create heat to cook. Use a lid and a plastic oven cooking back to use as a cover for the opening.

You can cook almost anything with this solar powered oven. It is important to use dark pots that will absorb more of the solar energy. Cooking with solar energy will take longer than with a conventional oven so you will need patience. The cooking times will also be different. With just a little experimenting you will be able to cook whatever you like.

Want to find out more about low cost energy, then visit Holly Fagan’s site on how to choose the best low cost solar energy for your needs.