What Is Solar Energy?
Solar energy is one of the many forms of renewable energy. Quite simply, solar energy or renewable energy comes to us from the Sun and we can harness it using solar panels in two ways;
Solar Thermal (ST): Solar energy, when used for heating purposes, is called Solar Thermal or solar heating. Such heating applications include – solar water heating, cooking food (using solar cookers), etc.
Solar Photovoltaic (PV): When used for generating electricity, it is called solar photovoltaic. This electricity generation is done using special cells (or rather, a large array of cells) called ‘Photovoltaic cells’ that are made from semi-conductor materials.
Passive Solar: This involves making direct use of the Sun’s energy in order to heat the air inside homes and absorb the maximum possible solar power in order to keep the homes warm (other equipments i.e. insulations are required for this). One good example of passive solar heating is passive solar air heaters.
We will get into the details of each (ST and PV, primarily) a bit later, but let’s first quickly check the benefits of using solar energy.
signs of lyingnannai