What types of solar energy are there?
Technically, most forms of energy on earth were originally derived from the sun. Even the fossil fuels are the products of photosynthesis from when ancient plants used the suns energy to grow, and then became fossilized. There are many uses of solar energy, from small portable solar ovens for cooking to large central utility power stations with thousands of mirrors that focus the suns heat on a huge, white hot receiver powering a multi-megawatt generator. There are three common forms of solar energy. There is passive solar, which intelligently uses things like insulation, window placement, thermal mass and seasonal changes to reduce the costs of heating, cooling and lighting buildings. There is thermal solar, which collects heat radiated from the sun and transports it to useful locations such as swimming pools, hot water heaters, room heaters or for industrial process heat. There is photovoltaic (photo – light, voltaic – electric) solar, which converts sunlight directly into electricit
