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The Basics of Solar Energy

What Is Solar Energy?

Solar energy is the harnessing of light and heat energy from the sun to provide power that we can use in our everyday lives, in forms such as heating, lighting and power for televisions, refrigerators, lights and electronic devices.

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In one day, the sun sends to the earth more energy than the entire world's population could consume in 27 years! Even better, solar energy generates no CO2 so does not contribute to global warming and climate change. In operation, solar energy is silent and clean, emits no pollutants or waste, and requires no fuel or ongoing consumables.
How is Solar Energy Environmentally Friendly?

Solar energy is a renewable energy that does not burn fossil fuels. Better still, solar energy generates no CO2 so does not contribute to global warming or climate change. In operation, solar energy is silent and clean, emits no pollutants or waste, and requires no fuel or ongoing consumables.
Is Solar Energy Really Free?

After the initial cost of buying and (if necessary) installing your equipment, yes, solar power is free and without ongoing costs. With no moving parts, solar systems should last many years and not require any maintenance, and they use no consumables.
What Types of Solar energy are there?

Technically speaking, most forms of energy on earth derived originally from the sun, even fossil fuels that are the products of photosynthesis. However, in this paper, we discuss solar power in the form of using sunlight directly to provide power and heat.

There are three common forms of solar energy:
1) Passive Solar


Passive solar is the intelligent use of insulation, window placement, thermal mass and seasonal variations to reduce the costs of heating, cooling and lighting buildings.
2) Thermal Solar


Thermal solar collects heat radiated from the sun and uses it to provide room heating, hot water for domestic use and swimming pools, heat for industrial processes, etc.
3) Photovoltaic or PV


Derived from 'photo', meaning light, and 'voltaic', meaning electric, photovoltaic solar converts sunlight directly into electricity. This electricity can then be used to charge electrical devices or DC storage batteries (in stand-alone PV systems), or inverted to AC and used in homes or fed into the mains grid (utility interactive PV systems).