Most of us live in places where the temperature fluctuates throughout the year, necessitating heat when it gets very cold and cooling when it gets very hot. The cost of the energy it takes to accomplish this starts to mount, and pretty soon you're tearing your hair out in the winter and in the summer.

Not to mention that we're at the mercy of foreign governments. Trouble in the middle east, for instance, which happens all the time, affects the oil prices and drives up our bills. It's gotten so we're ready to give up on being as we need to be and as cool as we want to be. But we shouldn't give up yet.

What would you say if you could buy an easy to read guide to creating your own solar panels for less than $200? It's a program called Earth4Energy, and it was created by a man named Michael Harvey, who balked when he was handed a preliminary estimate of $20,000 to have solar panels installed in his home. He was trying to save money, and he'd have to spend so much!

So he came up with this method for himself and decided to devise a program whereby he could teach other people how to create solar energy for themselves. After all, the sun is always up there, and as long as it shines, we've got the energy to power our lifestyles. Earth4Energy is a plan for creating photovoltaic panels by stringing together solar cells that you assemble yourself.

Don't assume you can't do it, because it isn't difficult. In fact, if you're handy enough to screw in a hook or pound a nail, you'll be able to follow the simple directions that you can either download in PDF or see in video format.

The author will take you through from beginning to end as if you didn't even know how to use tools (solar energy for "dummies") so that you'll feel competent and accomplished as your project comes to fruition. When installed, these panels will save you anywhere from 50 to 80 percent of your current utility bills, and you won't be relying on the utility company.

In fact, you'll be making enough for yourself and enough to store or even sell, thereby increasing your profit from this venture. And you'll be helping save the planet, too, no unimportant feat in this day and age when fossil fuels may be running out.