|
|
Solar energy
|
Part of the 354 MW SEGS solar complex in northern San Bernardino County, California, USA
Solar energy is radiant light and heat from the sun harnessed using a range of ever-evolving technologies such as solar heating, solar photovoltaics, solar thermal electricity, solar architecture and artificial photosynthesis.Solar technologies are broadly characterized as either passive solar or active solar depending on the way they capture, convert and distribute solar energy. Active solar techniques include the use of photovoltaic panels and solar thermal collectors to harness the energy. Passive solar techniques include orienting a building to the Sun, selecting materials with favorable thermal mass or light dispersing properties, and designing spaces that naturally circulate air.In 2011, the International Energy Agency said that "the development of affordable, inexhaustible and clean solar energy technologies will have huge longer-term benefits. It will increase countries’ energy security through reliance on an indigenous, inexhaustible and mostly import-independent resource, enhance sustainability, reduce pollution, lower the costs of mitigating climate change, and keep fossil fuel prices lower than otherwise. These advantages are global. Hence the additional costs of the incentives for early deployment should be considered learning investments; they must be wisely spent and need to be widely shared".
Renewable energy
Biofuel
Biomass
Geothermal
Hydropower
Solar energy
Tidal power
Wave power
Wind power
Topics by country
v
t
e
^ a b "Solar Energy Perspectives: Executive Summary" (PDF). International Energy Agency. 2011. Archived from the original on 2011-12-03.
^ Solar Fuels and Artificial Photosynthesis. Royal Society of Chemistry 2012 http://www.rsc.org/ScienceAndTechnology/Policy/Documents/solar-fuels.asp (accessed 11 March 2013)
|
|
Created By:
System
|
|
|
|
|