From Ecopedia

Overview

Solar energy, derived from the sun’s radiant heat and light, is harnessed globally using continuously evolving solar technologies. From time immemorial, solar energy found application in a wide range of application areas including industrial, scientific, cooking, heating, day lighting and architecture among many others.

Solar energy in the form of thermal/heat energy is used for heating purposes such as water heating, pool heating and space heating and also for generating electricity (solar power) by converting the heat from the sun into mechanical energy.

Solar Power or electricity generation using sunlight is cost-efficient compared to other natural energy resources including oil, wood, coal and natural gas. While generating electricity, solar energy causes minimal air pollution due to the fact that power-generating thermal devices such as solar panels do no emit environmentally harmful greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide.

In comparison, industrial or electric power generating plants running on electric power produce environmentally-harmful carbon emissions, posing a serious threat to all living things on earth.

Environmental Information

Renewable Energy

Solar radiation when combined with secondary resources of solar power such as wave power, wind, biomass and hydroelectricity accounts for most of the renewable energy available on the earth.

The total amount of solar energy that is being absorbed by the oceans, land masses and the earth’s atmosphere every year is around 3,850,000 exajoules (EJ). Annually, around 3,000 EJ of solar energy is being captured for Photosynthesis in biomass. An enormous amount of solar energy reaches the earth’s surface every year, which is about twice as high as that obtained from oil, mined uranium, natural gas, coal and other non-renewable resources combined together.

Eco-friendly Technologies

Solar technologies offer several environmental benefits. Certain solar technologies (active solar technologies) make use of solar thermal panels and photovoltaic (PV) panels for energy harnessing. Certain others indirectly harness the energy (passive solar technologies) for space designing through natural air circulation, selection of materials possessing favorable thermal-mass (any heat storing material) or light dispersion properties.

All solar energy systems, including solar thermal, photovoltaics and solar power make significant contribution to sustainable human development.

DayLighting

Daylighting systems utilize passive daylighting technology to offset direct energy use without the need for artificial lighting and also to indirectly offset the use of non-solar energy by minimizing air-conditioning needs. Proper implementation of daylighting features could lead to significant reduction in energy-related needs by 25%.

Other Benefits

Besides significantly minimizing pollution and global warming, solar energy provides many other environmental benefits such as lowered production costs and minimal maintenance costs subsequent to solar equipment installation.

References

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_energy http://www.naturalnews.com/021676.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_power http://www.alternate-energy-sources.com/advantages-of-solar-energy.html http://www.jc-solarhomes.com/greenhouse_effect.htm http://www.self.org/shs_envir.asp http://www.sciencedirect.com/