homemade solar cells...

You can kind of build your own by dismantling items that have solar cells in them, such as garden light. Here's an article: http://articles.directorygold.com/Article/Do-It-Yourself-Solar-Panels---Converting-Solar-Energy-to-Electricity-At-Home/411168 with links to more on the subject.

I do not think you can really make solar cells just be melting a glass or something. It has to under some process that we cannot just do it on our own. I think if you really want one you have to invest on one. That is one thing that many are thinking twice because there is a component behind that needs you to put out money before you can really enjoy its benefits. In the long run it will make significant reduction in terms of electric bills and at the same time helping the environment in the process.

I think solar cell is a complex technology which however still need technical knowledge. As i know, we can built the solar panel ourselves but for using it on our home, we need to buy some supporting equipment for this solar cell energy producer. It needs battery for saving the solar energy and converting it into electrical energy so we can use it for home peripherals such as fan, tv, lamp, etc. But i think if you want to use solar energy as your home source of power, then you need to have a very big solar panel which surely will cost you much money for it. Solar panel usually use for powering bathroom water warmer only. For home usage, usually people prefer to use wind power for their source of power. But however which one is good is totally depend on your geographical position. Have a nice day and happy mylotting.