Solar Technologies
PV O&M with SEI’s Brian Mehalic & Rebekah Hren
Ask an Expert: Amit Ronen of the GW Solar Institute
Ted Talks - Donald Sadoway: The Missing Link to Renewable Energy
Elliot Roeman Discusses Energy Storage as Key to Our Energy Future
How It's Made: Solar Panels
This Software Reduces Soft Costs For Solar Installations
Tedx Stanford - Solar Technologies
How building a better battery would change the game for renewable energy
Solar + Electric Vehicles: a Groupon for a Sustainable Future
Electricity Markets and Energy Storage
Energy Storage & Solar: New Programs, Projects, and Possibilities

What types of solar photovoltaic technologies exist today and how do they work?
Photovoltaic (PV) systems directly convert sunlight into electricity. The PV effect is the process from which light (photons) is converted into electric current.

How do solar air and water heaters work?
Both solar air and solar water heaters convert sunlight to heat, and both can be divided into active systems, which operate with the help of pumps or fans, or passive systems, which do not.

How efficient are photovoltaic technologies?
As with any energy conversion process, there is a physical limit for the photovoltaic conversion process.

What are the different kinds of solar electricity generation technologies?
There are many different technologies to generate electricity from solar energy.

Could solar really meet most of the world's energy needs?
Today, solar energy provides less than one percent of the world's energy, but that share could grow considerably with the right public policies and continued price reductions.

What’s the difference between solar power and solar energy?
Solar energy is broadly defined as the total energy that the sun radiates through visible light and other unseen electromagnetic waves.

What is Passive Solar Heating?
Passive solar heating, also known as passive solar design, takes advantage of a building’s architectural design to store and distribute solar energy in the form of heat.

What are organic solar cells?
An organic solar cell uses organic electronic materials to convert sunlight to electricity through the photovoltaic effect.

What are perovskite cells?
Perovskite (calcium titanate) cells are a particularly promising new solar technology.

What are quantum dot cells?
Quantum dots are tiny crystals of semiconductor material, roughly 2-10 nanometers, containing only hundreds to thousands of atoms.

What types of solar thermal electric technologies exist today?
Concentrated solar power (CSP) technologies convert sunlight to heat energy. Much like conventional power plants, CSP technologies then use heat energy to generate electricity.