San Martin, Robert L. Formerly, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Renewable Energy, U.S. Department of Energy, Washington, DC.
Last reviewed:January 2016
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- Solar thermal technology
- Collector systems
- System components
- Related Primary Literature
- Additional Reading
Energy transmitted from the Sun that is converted into thermal or electrical energy or a fuel through artificial photosynthesis. Solar research and development aims at finding the most efficient ways of capturing energy from sunlight and developing systems to convert the captured energy to useful purposes. Solar energy is used to provide heat for space comfort conditioning of buildings, for industrial processes, and to generate electricity. Photovoltaics convert solar energy directly into electricity. This article will focus on solar thermal and photovoltaic processes for generating electricity (Fig. 1). See also: Artificial photosynthesis; Energy sources; Solar heating and cooling; Solar radiation; Sun
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