In theory, solar panels won't help you save energy at all. You're probably looking at that statement with some sense of surprise, but it's true. Solar panels do something far more important than merely saving power. They actually enable homeowners to generate their own electricity and therefore reduce their reliance on the regular grid.
Individuals who want to save power would first want to go through their homes and see if they're leaving anything on that they could have turned off. You'll probably want to unplug any appliances you're not using, due to the fact that standby power can actually waste quite a bit of electricity depending on the kind of appliances you're working with. Once you've done that, you'll be in a great position to figure out just how many panels you'd need to cover the amount of current you use on a regular basis.
Domestic heating systems can make use of solar energy directly. By heating water using the light of the sun, electric or gas water heaters can simply be switched off. While this is a highly efficient system, fewer people are opting for it these days as most of the focus has instead switched over to the use of solar cells for electrical generation.
Under this system, individual panels generate an alternating current that matches the same modulation and voltage of standard line power. That means you can run anything off of them that's currently plugged into your wall. Homeowners can hire professional solar installers to put panels across their roofs in order to generate most of the electricity they need. Perhaps the most promising aspect of such an installation is the possibility that you could actually sell power back to the utility company.
For instance, say you were able to generate several kilowatt-hours beyond the total number you consume in a day. Current doesn't just vanish, and most solar energy users will actually charge up dedicated batteries so they can have a sufficient amount of power when the sun isn't shining. During the evening hours, your home's power distribution network will run off these cells.
Once you have a surplus beyond even these charging requirements, current can flow from your homestead back into the power grid. Over time, this can actually help your panels pay for themselves even without considering the amount of electricity you're not having to pay for since you're generating your own. There could even be some ancillary benefits since you won't experience nearly as many surges as you might have when working with a conventional connection.
A solar power distribution network insulates your home from the outside world to at least some degree. If there were a surge, then there's a good chance that it wouldn't damage your appliances the way it otherwise would. Concerned individuals can even add an additional suppressor to their solar installation to save from ever having to replace something because it got damaged as a result of grid fluctuations.
All of these features make solar panels some of the most cost-effective devices consumers can invest in.
