Best American Made solar Panels
Who are the best solar panel manufacturers, and how do you go about finding and selecting one? The answer isn't as straight forward as you might expect it to be due to the fact that the best solar panel manufacturers supply solar panels for a wide range of uses and situations.
One of the first considerations to take into account is that it is better to shop locally, and not only to stimulate the local economy but also for the environment. This advice really applies to any product or purchase, due to the fact that by shipping a product over great distances you are increasing your carbon footprint enormously. For instance, it is absurd to buy American made solar panels if you live in Japan or indeed solar panels made in India if you live in England. So if you are going to use solar panels to reduce not only the cost of the electricity you consume but also to do more to save the planet you must shop locally for locally manufactured goods.
The manufacturing of solar panels for both residential and commercial use is a rapidly growing industry. There are a number of quality major solar panel manufacturers in the United States, and an increasing number in Europe and Japan as well. In recent years China has also become a major provider of solar panels both because they have high demand internally and because their low labor costs have helped to bring manufacturing costs down.
In the United States, Sunpower and First Solar are solar panel manufacturers with good reputations for making quality products. If you live in Europe, it is widely thought that Schott Solar of Germany as well as German company SolarWorld is considered to be the third best manufacturer in the world. In Japan Sanyo is currently considered to produce the best quality product, while if you live in China Suntech is widely thought to produce the best value for money solar product. Finally, if you are in the UK, Solar Century may make the best Photovoltaic solar panels of all!
Recently there has been a large step forward in the design and manufacture of solar panels. One of the largest forces in the design and manufacture of solar panels, Japan-based Sanyo, has recently developed a solar cell made from crystalline silicon. In research conducted ten years ago it has been demonstrated that these types of cells if they could be manufactured would offer an increased photovoltaic output of 22.3%. As well as using the new photovoltaic crystalline silicon cells Sanyo also re-engineered the solar panel itself and now that it is in production the Sanyo crystalline silicon based solar panels are considered to be the most efficient on the market.
One of the main advantages of using the Sanyo method to create the photovoltaic cells is that the end product (the solar panels) can be much larger. This means that they can make more electricity while producing it more efficiently, which means that the home with a Sanyo solar array which uses this very advanced technology is going to be a very attractive place to live with very low energy costs. Another wonderful aspect regarding the application of Sanyo's research is that of course this is only the beginning and who knows what lies in store as far as solar energy opportunities for home and business owners in the future.
The good news is that Sanyo and of course don't forget their competition will be constantly researching new ways to make photovoltaic solar panels that are better and more efficient, which means that one day there will be less electricity generated... and that is good news for the planet and its occupants.
