Can I rely on solar PV panels for all my home energy?

You cant rely on PV for all of your solar needs, however, you'd be surprised as to how much you can power with PV. Is there anything in particular that you'd like to power? hot water heater, oven, etc? You may have to rely on another source of energy whether at night, when its cloudy, etc. If you get serious about installing PV panels on your house then I would recommend you contact some professionals. There are a lot of people out there, and a lot of money being "thrown out the door" by the government with little to no accountability, so make sure that the people you hire know what they are doing and provide warranties. My Uncle in the Florida Keys and In Laws outside of Chicago used a company called Sun Electronics and they were extremely satisfied with their finished product. Both my In Laws and Uncle are BEYOND cheap, but at the end of the day did not feel as though they were being ripped off and got a product that they have been VERY satisfied with.

It is possible to install a system that is totally independent of a normal power grid. The system consists of many solar panels, a very large battery bank, a back-up generator, and a distribution and charge control system. The cost of a system like this is in the range of $40,000 - $80,000 depending on your location (In the desert where sun shines most days it is a smaller system)

Even with this system, you probably will not be able to support heating or air conditioning loads. You must use gas for as much as possible.

Of course, there is no way this is cost-effective when compared to normal grid power.

most solar power systems charge during the day and hold energy when there is no light when the battery runs out you take energy from the grid but when the weather is sunny and your battery is full you run of the direct current and the extra is transfered to the grid and the electric company pass you this also depends on you system

For your science project, look up past issues of SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN in your school library. There was a Scientific American cover story on this subject in January - I think it was their January 22, 2008 issue, but I'm not sure. The authors of that article make an argument that with a fairly big government investment in solar energy, the United States could more than meet its needs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions within the next few decades. The article also predicts that the USA would become much more "energy independent" in the process, which would reliance our dangerous dependence on Middle Eastern oil. Check out the article - it might help you.

Yes of course, I've been using Solar Panels for almost 2 years already and it eliminated my energy consumptions. I've been getting a lot of information for solar panels on this site too: http://www.reduceelectricitybill.info/

Depends on where you live.

Some homes have enough roof/garden space to put enough solar panels to provide, over a year, all of the electricity they use. But unless you live pretty close to the equator, then you'll produce a lot more in summer than winter so it won't be cost efficient (as you'll waste energy in summer and have to import it in winter).

Also, you'd need batteries to power yourself at night, which would be expensive.

They're an excellent supplement to being hooked up to the grid, or a generator if you can afford the initial investment. However, you cannot rely on them for 100% of your energy needs all the time due to weather.

If you really want to do this , call a certified solar company to give you an estimate,plan to have solar and backup batteries. It is yours to decide. Do not buy one solar panel and carp that solar is no good. cannot supply Your needs

The power generated by the solar cells are very less. It is decreased to many times on charging and discharging of the battery.So it can only be used for devices like laptops , table lambs etc.

it depends on how is the distribution of the energy produced by the sun to supply the energy needed for the production,..it alse depends on what the size of your solar panel is because the width of the panel affects the collection of the solar energy for the supply.