WHAT IS SOLAR ENERGY? (DEFINITION, PROS, CONS AND EXAMPLES)

Solar energy is heat and radiant light from the Sun that can be harnessed with technologies such as solar power (which is used to generate electricity) and solar thermal energy (which is used for applications such as water heating).

As a renewable and clean energy resource, solar can be used as a replacement for fossil fuels, producing heat, creating chemical reactions and generating electricity. Solar energy technology can be built flexibly at scale and allows the energy that is collected to be stored for later use.

The amount of potential solar energy that reaches the Earth each day far exceeds the current and expected future energy requirements of the world. The question is just how to harness the potential and, in order to understand this, we need to look at how solar energy works…