Solar Power
Solar power is the generation of electricity from sunlight. Solar power can be active or passive. Active solar can be direct as with photovoltaic (PV), or indirect as with concentrating solar power (CSP), where the sun's energy is focused to boil water, which is then used to provide power.
Passive solar can provide household lighting with skylights or solar tubes, and it can provide water or pool heating. Solar electricity is clean power. You can make your own power with solar panels and there is no pollution or harmful emissions.
The sun produces 400 trillion trillion watts (yes, that is trillion trillion) of energy every second. Solar power has the potential to provide over 1,000 times total world energy consumption in 2010, though it provides only 0.50%. If it continues to double in use every two to three years, or less, it would become the dominant energy source this century.
Today, everything from your home or car, to your cell phone or laptop computer can use solar electricity. Solar panels can provide power to almost any electric device. Solar powered homes and electric cars are becoming more common. It is expected that 10% of all homes and cars will use solar electricity by 2020.
