Solar Basics

The Sun, or Sol, is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, with internal convective motion that generates a magnetic field via a dynamo process. It is by far the most important source of energy for life on Earth. Its diameter is about 1.39 million kilometers (864,000 miles), or 109 times that of Earth, and its mass is about 330,000 times that of Earth. It accounts for about 99.86% of the total mass of the Solar System. Roughly three quarters of t...

Solar energy is radiant light and heat from the Sun that is harnessed using a range of ever-evolving technologies such as solar heating, photovoltaics, solar thermal energy, solar architecture, molten salt power plants and artificial photosynthesis. It is an important source of renewable energy and its technologies are broadly characterized as either passive solar or active solar depending on how they capture and distribute solar energy or convert it into solar power. Active solar techniques inc...

The shield effect of Earths atmosphere on solar irradiation. The top image is the annual mean solar irradiation (or insolation) at the top of Earths atmosphere (TOA); the bottom image shows the annual insolation reaching the Earths surface after passing through the atmosphere. Note that the two images use the same color scale. Solar irradiance (SI) is the power per unit area (watt per square metre, W/m 2 ), received from the Sun in the form of electromagnetic radiation as reported in the wavelen...

Solar thermal energy (STE) is a form of energy and a technology for harnessing solar energy to generate thermal energy or electrical energy for use in industry, and in the residential and commercial sectors. Contents 1. Overview 2. History 3. Low-temperature solar heating and cooling systems 3.1 Low-temperature collectors 3.2 Heat storage in low-temperature solar thermal systems 3.3 Solar-driven cooling 3.4 Solar heat-driven ventilation 3.5 Process heat 4. Medium-temperature collectors 4.1 Solar...

Solar air heating is a solar thermal technology in which the energy from the sun, insolation, is captured by an absorbing medium and used to heat air. Solar air heating is a renewable energy heating technology used to heat or condition air for buildings or process heat applications. It is typically the most cost-effective out of all the solar technologies, especially in commercial and industrial applications, and it addresses the largest usage of building energy in heating climates, which is spa...

Renewable energy is energy that is collected from renewable resources, which are naturally replenished on a human timescale, such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides, waves, and geothermal heat. Renewable energy often provides energy in four important areas: electricity generation, air and water heating/cooling, transportation, and rural (off-grid) energy services. Based on REN21s 2017 report, renewables contributed 19.3% to humans global energy consumption and 24.5% to their generation of electricit...

Solar technology isnt new. Its history spans from the 7th Century B.C. to today. We started out concentrating the suns heat with glass and mirrors to light fires. Today, we have everything from solar-powered buildings to solar powered vehicles. Here you can learn more about the milestones in the historical development of solar technology, century by century, and year by year. You can also glimpse the future. This timeline lists the milestones in the historical development of solar technology fro...

What is solar insolation? The amount of electromagnetic energy (solar radiation) incident on the surface of the earth. Basically that means how much sunlight is shining down on us. Why is knowing the insolation level useful? By knowing the insolation levels of a particular region we can determine the size of solar collector that is required. An area with poor insolation levels will need a larger collector than an area with high insolation levels. Once you know your regions insolation level you c...