What is Solar Energy?
Solar Energy  is the energy released from Sun in the form of heat and light. Sun continuously radiated out electromagnetic waves, which consists of several components of energy waves namely  radio waves, microwaves, X-rays, gamma rays,  infrared, ultraviolet and of course visible rays. Except for visible rays, we can't see any other energy waves through naked eyes. We can only measure them through special instruments.  It is interesting to know that many of these energy waves are harmful to human beings, but thanks to earth's atmosphere, they are filtered out before they reach earth's surface.

How can we capture Solar Energy?
Throughout history, mankind has tried to utilized Solar energy for many practical purpose - for cooking, lighting fire, drying etc. The facts that solar energy is scattered makes it very challenging to capture. But today we can capture solar energy through two different methods - (1) Photovoltaic (PV) cells and (2) Solar Concentrator.  The Photovoltaic method captures sun's energy directly through semiconductor cells and generates electric current, while solar concentrator is a passive way of collecting sun's energy by way of concentrating sun's ray to a central location. The concentrated light is then used to heat water to steam, which in turn drives turbines and produces electricity. While solar concentrator is used to generate electricity at the utility level, many homes today uses photovoltaic cells to generate their own power. Photovoltaic cells is preferred for home electricity generation. For commercial solar power plant, both PV cells as well as solar concentrators are being used today. 

Where can we use Solar energy?
You can use Solar energy for anything as long as you can capture it and convert it into useful form such as heat or electricity. As Solar energy consists of electromagnetic radiation, this energy can be converted into heat energy for heating purpose & electric energy for electricity generation,  which in turn is used for many practical day to day purposes such as lighting, heating, cooking etc.

What is Solar Energy Efficiency?
Solar Energy efficiency of solar panel can be defined as the ratio of energy output (electricity) to energy absorbed by the panel or cell respectively. Scientists have experimented and calculated the amount of solar energy reaching the earth’s atmosphere to be 1.94 calories per square centimeter per minute. So a solar cell receives anything less than this amount taking into factor such as atmosphere’s absorption and other factors such as latitude, altitude, weather conditions etc. To get the efficiency value, you will need to convert both the output and the input into similar unit. The efficiency of today's solar cell is as high as 20%, which is a huge improvement from few decades back, when it was below 5%

Why is Solar energy so important in our lives?
All life on earth is possible because of solar energy. Plants absorb sunlight through photosynthesis and provide food to eat and oxygen to breathe. In fact, without it, there would be no life at all. Even the lowest life forms, such as plankton and microbes, need solar power (in the form of sunlight) in order to survive.

Is Solar energy environmentally safe?
Solar power is completely environmental friendly. It does not produce any byproducts such as carbon dioxide, that is basically blamed for greenhouse gases (GHG) and global warming. It does not produce any known pollutants that is released to the environment. Solar energy is a sustainable source of energy that producers no greenhouse gas emissions.

Why there is so much buzz about solar energy?
Solar energy, along with wind and biomass energy has captured attention as an alternative to fossil fuel (such as petroleum and natural gas) for energy need. The rising cost of gasoline along with the concern for environment, global warming etc has many countries focusing their resources on these alternative source of energy. These energy source are also know as renewable sources as their supply is limitless and practically free. There is only an up front cost that goes into the putting the system together to capture these energy for practical use. 


Information on Practical facts about Solar energy

What are some of the most practical use of Solar energy?
In many countries, solar water heating systems has been used for several decades. In U.S, tens of thousands homes are now completely living off solar power i.e. they produce their own electricity. Then, there are several solar energy gadgets available in the market today namely, solar water heaters, battery chargers and solar flashlights, solar garden lights, solar calculators, solar radios, solar-powered attic fans, solar backpacks to smaller electronic devices, solar recharge batteries for cell phones and other mobile devices. There are solar roof panels ( consisting of several solar photovoltaic cells) & solar roof tiles for electricity generation.

Can solar energy power my entire home?
Yes, it is totally possible today to power your entire home from solar power. It is documented fact that more than 10,000 homes in United States completely generate their own Solar power to fulfill their home energy need.

There are very good Solar energy guides available now , and I strongly recommend this DIY Solar energy project which gives detail instructions on what you need to do make your own solar panels as well as videos that shows you exactly how you can do this. If you are looking for more generic information, just to educate yourself, you may want to check the books available on many different areas of solar power energy. 


Information on Mathematical facts about Solar energy

How much energy do I need for my home?
If you have looked at your electricity bills, it will tell you how much of electricity you consumed in kwh or kilo watt hour. (Kwh is the unit of measurement). Here are the details
1 Kwh is equal to 1000 watt hour, which is the amount of amount of electricity consumed by 1000 watt bulb in 1 hour, or the electricity consumed by 100 watt bulb in 10 hours. Different electric appliances consumes more of less energy depending on their electric need. Higher the wattage, higher the consumption.

The most practical way to calculate the amount of solar energy you would need for your home is by taking your electricity bills for the last 12 months, add up all the electricity consumption for those twelve months and then divide it by 365 days. This will give you the average daily usage of electricity in your household. Remember, this is an estimate only. Some days you will use more and some days less.

Is it cheap to generate electricity for home using solar energy?
Solar energy is free but you would need a complete system to capture sun's energy and use it as electricity. Some of the major components are -  solar panels to capture energy, inverters to convert DC to AC, battery for electricity storage. There are few good places to learn and do-it-yourself Solar energy generation project to get started.