Solarzem

The term solar energy is used to cover the different ways of making use of the energy from the sun.

The sun is at a distance of 146 million kilometres (91 million miles) from the Earth and is an extremely potent source of energy.

To gain an idea of the magnitude of the energy from the sun, every year the Earth receives from the sun around 1.6 billion kilowatt-hours. However, only 40% reaches the Earth directly, with the rest reflected in the upper layers of the atmosphere.

This fraction that humans could capture and transform into useable energy is hundreds of times greater than the annual consumption of energy in the world as a whole.

What are the differences between thermal solar energy and photovoltaic energy?

The main differences are the following:

• Photovoltaic solar energy is used to generate electrical energy.
• Thermal solar energy is used to produce hot water for a variety of uses, such as domestic hot water, support for heating systems, heating of swimming pools, industrial processes with heating of water or other fluids, and the production of cold for air-conditioning in combination with an absorption machine.