Welcome to solar energy era
Solar energy is the renewable energy by excellency, diffused in the form of electromagnetic radiation of the Sun and reaching us through the atmosphere before being absorbed on the surface of the Earth. Solar energy is the root of the cycles of water, the wind and photosynthesis, upon which organic life, also the animal kingdom and Humanity, depend.
Renewable energy sources indirectly derived from solar energy include:
-hydraulic energy, derived from the kinetic energy of water whose cycle depends on the Sun;
-wind energy, derived from the kinetic energy of the wind associated with the heating and evaporation of water, generated by the Sun;
-energy of the biomass in organic and woody form as well as the geothermal energy of low temperature, coming from the superficial layers of the ground warmed by the Sun.
The easiest, but also the directest and most efficient, renewable energy production technic consists though in capturing energy from the electromagnetic radiation of the Sun, which can subdivided into 2 distinct technologies:
– Solar thermal to store heat energy from electromagnetic radiation for example domestic hot water, auxiliary heating or industrial processes;
– Photovoltaic technology for converting electromagnetic radiation into electrical energy for example primary household needs, electric vehicle and heat pump power supply.
Solar energy is on purpose a renewable and inexhaustible energy on the scale of humanity, whose heat storage and electrical conversion, combined with other sources of energy depending on specific needs, allows everyone to become a producer-consumer (prosumer), by increasing its energy self-sufficiency, decreasing its ecological footprint and optimizing its own carbon balance (CO2).