One great source of home energy usage is your electric appliances. Between lighting, refrigerators and the numerous other machines Americans use, about 30 percent of your home energy usage goes to power appliances. And while you may not be willing to give any of them up entirely, you can reduce your consumption anyway, by using energy-efficient appliances and fixtures.

A PV inverter is the part of your solar power system that converts the DC power from the photovoltaic panels into AC voltage for use in your home.The size of an inverter is measured in its maximum continuous output in watts, from less than one hundred to several thousand. Its physical size will also vary based on its power - currently the smallest inverters can be smaller than laptops.

In some cases battery banks are an optional component of your residential solar or wind power system, while in others they are necessary. In either case, the bank’s function is to store energy for later use. In an off-grid system, the battery is necessary because solar power is your only source of energy, and you don’t stop needing power when the sun goes down. Your system will collect excess solar energy while the sun shines and store it in a battery bank until you need to use it.
In an on-grid system battery banks may still be useful, because they will allow you to store solar energy for use when neither the sun, wind or your traditional power source is available -for instance, if there were a power outage at night.