An alternative energy home is one which utilizes environmentally sound sources of energy in order to take from them and generate its own power. But what types of energy would it be best to draw from, and what systems are used to employ these resources? Solar energy might be the first, or among the first to pop into mind when considering sustainable energy sources with zero impact upon the environment it its use to generate electricity and in the consumption of said electricity, and wind power might be another. But are these efficient enough, and are their any other forms of sustainable technology that we can use? Which is best?
Well, as for the answer to that last question, the best source of power to run an alternative energy home on is all of them. A good home that runs on the environment around it runs on a few different power sources... solar, passive solar, solar-geothermal, geothermal energy, wind-generated power, and so on. For example, you could have solar panels generating electricity for your home and you could have wind turbines doing the same thing, acting as a redundant system, and you could have geothermal energy for heating and air-conditioning, and also for heating and cooling your water supply. But how are these accomplished? Is it difficult, and does the production of energy from these sources harm the environment at all? Let's take a closer look...
First of, an alternative energy home which utilizes the power of the sun does nothing to the environment in the collection of the energy, or even in the consumption of the electricity that such a system can generate. You see, the sun is always putting forth light, and even if there were a trillion solar panels, each ten miles wide by ten miles long, they would never deplete the supply of sunlight coming from the sun. It's just simply impossible to affect the sun by collecting the sunlight which shoots forth from it. What's more is that through the use of solar panels which takes in photons and transforms that energy into electrons through the use of two types of silicon ("P-type" and "N-type"),, there are no by-products produced, no fossil fuels burned, no exhaust vented, nothing of that sort whatsoever.
The same can be said of an alternative energy home which uses the power of the wind. Nothing burned, nothing pushed out as far as exhaust, and no by-products produced. If there were a billion wind turbines, they wouldn't suck the wind away into depletion. Nothing is drained away into irreversible expenditure, and nothing harmful is created as a result. Geothermal energy is used in the same way. Pipes driven into the earth with water coursing through them can extract the heat from the earth (which is perpetually heated by the sun), and can then be coursed throughout the house to provide heat and hot water for the home without adversely affecting the environment in any negative way whatsoever.
If you're interested in learning more about an alternative energy home and other things related to alternative energy, then you've got to check out the EcoPlusHome project.
