Did you know that solar energy is dependent upon nuclear power? Solar Energy's nuclear power plant, though, is 93 million miles away. [SolarBuzz.com]
Worldwide photovoltaic installations increased by 1744 MW in 2005, up from 1,460 MW installed during the previous year. In 1985, annual solar installation demand was only 21 Megawatts. [SolarBuzz.com]
Solar Energy demand has grown at about 25% per annum over the past 15 years (hydrocarbon energy demand typically grows between 0-2% per annum). [SolarBuzz.com]
Four Companies account for over 50% of solar cell production: Sharp, Kyocera, BP Solar, and Shell Solar. [SolarBuzz.com]
Solar Energy (photovoltaic) prices have declined on average 4% per annum over the past 15 years. Progressive increase in conversion efficiencies and manufacturing economies of scale are the underlying drivers. [SolarBuzz.com]
A Megawatt is 1,000,000 Watts; a Gigawatt is 1000 Megawatts. [SolarBuzz.com]
The earth receives more energy from the sun in just one hour than the world uses in a whole year. [SolarBuzz.com]
The sun has produced energy for billions of years. [Energy Information Administration]
Solar energy is the solar radiation that reaches the earth. [Energy Information Administration]
Photovoltaic technology was born in the United States with the invention of the silicon solar cell at Bell Labs. [Energy Information Administration]
Federal support for photovoltaic technology was initially tied to the space program, where its use was to provide power for the Vanguard satellite. [Energy Information Administration]
New world-record efficiencies in polycrystalline thin film and single-crystal devices, approaching 16 percent and 30 percent, respectively, were achieved in 1993. [Energy Information Administration]
The average American consumes six times more energy than the world average. [Energy Information Administration]
The United States uses a lot of energy—nearly a million dollars worth each minute, 24 hours a day, every day of the year. [Energy Information Administration]
With less than five percent of the world’s population, we consume about one fourth of the world’s energy resources. [Energy Information Administration]
Households use about one-fifth of the total energy consumed in the United States each year. [Energy Information Administration]
The typical U.S. family spends almost $1,500 a year on utility bills. [Energy Information Administration]
Energy-efficient improvements can make a home more comfortable and save money. [Energy Information Administration]
A two-degree adjustment to your thermostat setting (lower in winter, higher in summer) can lower heating bills by four percent and prevent 500 pounds of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere each year. [Energy Information Administration]
About one-third of a typical home’s heat loss occurs through the doors and windows. [Energy Information Administration]
By placing trees, shrubs, and other landscape structures to block the wind and provide shade, people can reduce the energy needed to keep their homes comfortable during heating and cooling seasons. [Energy Information Administration]
Appliances account for about 20 percent of a typical household’s energy use, with refrigerators, clothes washers and dryers at the top of the list. [Energy Information Administration]
As a nation, we spend about one-quarter of our electricity on lighting, at a cost of more than $37 billion annually. [Energy Information Administration]
Only 10 percent of the energy used by an incandescent bulb produces light; the rest is given off as heat. [Energy Information Administration]
If you replace 25 percent of your light bulbs with fluorescents, you can save about 50 percent on your lighting bill. [Energy Information Administration]
Compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) provide the same amount of light and no longer flicker or buzz. [Energy Information Administration]
Water heating is the third largest energy expense in your home. It typically accounts for about 14 percent of your utility bill. [Energy Information Administration]
Wind is called a renewable energy source because the wind will blow as long as the sun shines. [Energy Information Administration]
Like old fashioned windmills, today’s wind machines use blades to collect the wind’s kinetic energy. [Energy Information Administration]
One wind machine can produce 1.5 to 4.0 million kilowatthours (kWh) of electricity a year. That is enough electricity for to power 150-400 homes. [Energy Information Administration]
The Big Spring Wind Power Project in Texas has 46 wind turbines that generate enough electricity to power 7,300 homes. [Energy Information Administration]
All together, wind machines in the United States generate 17 billion kWh per year of electricity, enough to serve 1.6 million households. [Energy Information Administration]
Sunlight is composed of photons, or particles of solar energy. [Energy Information Administration]
The photovoltaic cell is the basic building block of a PV system. [Energy Information Administration]
The simplest photovoltaic systems power many of the small calculators and wrist watches used everyday. [Energy Information Administration]
The pv cell was discovered in 1954 by Bell Telephone researchers examining the sensitivity of a properly prepared silicon wafer to sunlight. [Energy Information Administration]
The modular characteristic of photovoltaic energy allows arrays to be installed quickly and in any size required or allowed. [Energy Information Administration]
The major applications of solar thermal energy at present are heating swimming pools, heating water for domestic use, and space heating of buildings. [Energy Information Administration]
Though accounting for only 5 percent of the world's population, Americans consume 26 percent of the world's energy. (American Almanac) [Solarenergy.org]
Solar Energy is measured in kilowatt-hour. 1 kilowatt = 1000 watts. [Facts-about-solar-energy.com]
A 1-kilowatt home solar system will prevent approximately 170 lbs. of coal from being burned, 300 lbs of CO2 from being released into the atmosphere and 105 gallons of water from being consumed each month! [Facts-about-solar-energy.com]
Relying on the battery back up, a solar energy system can provide electricity 24x7, even on cloudy days and at night. [Facts-about-solar-energy.com]
Sunlight travels to the earth in approximately 8 minutes from 93,000,000 miles away, at 186,282 miles per second. [Facts-about-solar-energy.com]
Da Vinci predicted a solar industrialization as far back as 1447. [Facts-about-solar-energy.com]
Electric ovens consume the most amount of electricity, followed by microwaves and central air conditioning. [Facts-about-solar-energy.com]
Shell Oil predicts that 50% of the world's energy will come from renewable sources by 2040. [Facts-about-solar-energy.com]