There are four main strategies that solar electricity from the sun is captured, these are:

Flat plate liquid filled solar cells for water heating

Flat Plate Gas filled solar cells for space heating

Photovoltaic cells for electricity generation

Passive Solar Heating

Flat Plate Liquid filled solar power panels

A flat-plate liquid solar power collector is essentially a metal box, sometimes insulated that has a glass cover over a dark colored metal plate (copper or less expensive aluminum). This plate soaks up the sun’s heat and heats up. This heat is in turn passed on to water that passes thru tubes under the plate. The heated water then passes thru to heat the home hot water system.. A better modification of this is the vacuum tube system. Heat collectors are enclosed in a vacuumed glass tube, which noticeably decreases heat loss, making the system more energy efficient.

Flat Plate Gas filled solar electricity panels

A flat plate gas solar power collector is much the same construction as the liquid version, but rather than water soaking up the solar electricity which has been picked up, it is air. The heated air is then pumped thru into a room or space, to heat that area. While not as efficient as liquid filled systems, the gas based systems have got the advantage of needing less solar power to heat up, implying that they start outputting heat earlier in the day and later in the evening.

Photovoltaic (Electric Solar Energy)

Photovoltaic Energy is a technology that uses crystalline silicon solar cells to convert daylight, aka solar power, into electricity. The usages for this could range from huge plants generating mains electricity down to little cells that power your calculator.

Passive solar electricity

Passive solar energy is where the sun heats up an object and that object then gives out heat once the sun has gone. Passive solar electricity is something that we all appreciate and benefit from in our homes. Storage heater modern design is now ready to optimise the utilization of solar electricity in this manner.