If you are concerned about the environment and want to save money on your home's energy bills, you may have decided to use more renewable or clean energy sources, such as solar power. If so, use the following tips to get you started.

Use Solar-Powered Lanterns To Light Up Your Walkways

If you have a walkway from your house to your garage that you like to keep lit up 24 hours a day, you may have a string of lights that are plugged into an outdoor socket. Even if they have energy efficient or low wattage light bulbs, these can still draw a lot of electricity when left on all day and night.

Instead of using electrical lights for your walkway, buy cheap stake lights that have tiny solar panels. These lights charge up during the day and use the energy stored in the solar cells at night. As a backup, many of them use a small battery, which still uses less direct energy than your current system.

Install Small Solar Panels As An Energy Source In Your Garage

If you have a garage, you may keep the light on at night. You may also use it for small projects that do not require a large amount of energy, such as drilling an occasional hole or cutting a board or two. For the light and power for your odd jobs, you can set up solar panels that feed the light socket and one or two of your power outlets.

These solar panels are larger than the ones used in the walkway lights discussed in the previous section. As a result, the cells can store more energy so they can power a household light or a drill. Some of the cells are capable of storing several days' worth of sunshine, so even if you run into a string of cloudy days, you can still use the panels as your energy source.

If you decide to make your garage completely solar-powered, you can install varying sizes for each light socket and plug. You could then use the larger panels to supply power to your hand tools, while smaller ones can power your lights or radio.

The above tips can help you get started using cleaner energy sources. If you would like more tips or information, you may want to contact your energy company to ask if they have any advice on other ways you can set up and use renewable energy around your house.