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Solar panels are made of highly excitable, conductive materials. When the sun’s rays hit the solar panels, the reaction creates direct current (DC) electricity.

Since most homes and businesses use alternating current (AC) electricity, your solar-generated DC energy will pass through an inverter to become AC electricity. Then it flows through your property’s wiring and behaves just like the power you’ve been using your whole life.

The only time your solar panels stop generating electricity is when the sun’s not out. That means at night and during eclipses.

The sun is constant. It rises and sets pretty routinely. It’s more predictable and reliable than power plants, which often experience outages several thousand times every year.

Maybe that’s why the U.S. Department of Defense pledged to purchase 3 gigawatts of clean energy for its bases by 2025. As of 2016, they’re on track to meet that goal.

That’s renewable energy contributing power equivalent to nearly six coal plants! Solar energy isn’t a passing fad. It’s the key to a future of lower electricity bills and a cleaner environment.

Your solar panels don’t need sunshine, per se, to generate electricity as much as they need direct, unobstructed access to the sun’s UV rays.

Similar to how your skin still tans when it’s overcast outside, your solar panels will still generate electricity during cloudy, rainy, or snowy days — they just won’t produce as much energy as they do during clear days.

Solar panels do not generate electricity at night since the sun’s not out. This is when staying connected to the power grid comes in handy as you’ll still have electricity to Netflix and chill.

In reality, you probably won’t want to go off grid. The practice is known as “islanding”, or when you connect your solar array to batteries so you’ll be able to power your home or business entirely on solar energy instead of using the utility company for power.

The thing is, this practice is incredibly expensive and inefficient for most people.

Batteries are not only expensive, they’re not as technically developed as solar panels (read: they clunk up the operation). They also need to be maintained and replaced routinely.

Most solar adopters choose to stay on the grid out of convenience and money-saving.

That depends on how much electricity your home or business uses, where you live, the rate your utility company charges for electricity, and several other factors.

Most solar providers aim to offset 70–90% of your monthly electricity bill, so that’s a good place to start your calculations.

If you want specifics on exactly how to do that, check out our super easy crash course to saving money with solar energy.

Installing your solar array may take two to a few hours, depending on the size of your solar array, your mounting choice, and your property.

Your solar provider will not have to rewire your house as all the wiring stays exactly the same.

Your new solar system will consist of a few additional parts to your existing electricity system: your solar panels, the inverter, and your new two-way utility meter.