Is solar power the same as free energy?
Once you have built a system for generating electricity from the sun the electricity is free as long as the sun shines. Solar cells make electricity directly but are very expensive. Solar panels are fine for heating water but, because they don’t get very hot, their efficiency as electricity generators is dreadful, see the previous answer. Much of the time there would be no net output. However, when people refer to “free energy” they don’t usually mean energy coming from some conventional source like the sun.
