Generating Electricity: Solar Energy

We usually think of solar energy simply as sunlight, but the term includes many other renewable resources available around us.

By heating the earth and its atmosphere, the sun generates wind, waves, rainfall for rivers and differences in ocean temperatures. The sun helps grow trees for firewood and plants for conversion to alcohol.

Obtaining energy is possible from these secondary sources of solar energy as well as from the sun itself. The water resources for hydroelectric power, for example, are completely renewable, with solar energy an important part of the cycle. Heat from the sun evaporates water from ocean and lake surfaces. Clouds store the water, and it returns to the earth as rain and snow.

Electric power producers are working increasingly with the sun. They are evaluating and improving methods that range from solar water heaters to photovoltaic cells and from wind power to biomass conversion.