Alberta Solar

What is solar energy? To answer that question, outlined here is a basic definition of solar energy and its various practical applications.

Definition

Solar energy is basically energy that comes from the sun. Specifically, it is the heat and light that radiates from the sun. This heat and light is collected through various technologies for different applications such as heating, water distillation, and electricity generation. What makes solar energy an attractive prospect is that it provides a renewable and large source of energy that can fill up global demands for energy. According to statistics, the planet absorbs 3,850,000 exajoules of energy per year, and that’s more energy in one hour than the total energy the world consumed in 2002. The main issue with solar energy is the difficulty in effectively harnessing it, with only a percentage of the total number being used for practical purposes.

Applications

As mentioned, some of the common applications of solar energy are for heating, cooking, and electricity generation. For heating, heat from the sun is collected through the concentration of heat through reflectors, or through the use of materials that can absorb heat effectively. Part of this is the design of buildings with respect to the position of the sun. This is to maximize solar illumination and offset solar heat to provide better building ventilation. Of course, one of the most well-known applications of solar energy is through the conversion of light to electricity using the photovoltaic effect. This is done through photovoltaic cells and panels that convert light particles to electric current.

Already popular for powering simple devices such as calculators at present, there are more aggressive efforts on harnessing solar energy as the primary source of electricity for both residential and commercial use.