The term "photo" comes from the Greek "phos," meaning light. Theoretically, one could heat one's home with

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1. Photovoltaic (fo-to-vol-ta-ik) systems are solar systems that produce
electricity directly from sunlight. The term "photo" comes from the Greek
"phos," meaning light. "Voltaic" is named for Alessandro Volta (1745-1827), a
pioneer in the study of electricity for whom the term "volt" was named.
Photovoltaics, then, means "light electricity." Photovoltaic systems produce
clean, reliable electricity without consuming any fossil fuels. They are being
used in a wide variety of applications, from providing power for watches,
highway signs, and space stations, to providing for a household's electrical needs.
2. What is the difference between "solar energy" and "photovoltaics?"
Photovoltaics is one form of solar energy. The term solar energy can refer to something as simple the energy gathered in your parked, sealed car (your solar collector) and converted into heat. Solar energy
is often used to heat houses directly through passive means (sun enters window,
room warms). Solar energy is also often used to heat water (a solar collector is
mounted in direct sunlight, which warms a heat transfer fluid, which in turn
heats the water in your hot water tank).Photovoltaics refers
specifically to the practice of converting the sun's energy directly into
electricity using photovoltaic cells. Photovoltaic cells are often referred to
as PV cells or solar cells.
3. What is solar thermal
energy?Solar thermal energy refers to harnessing the sun's
light to produce heat. Heat results when photons, packets of light energy,
strike the atoms composing a substance (water, your body, asphalt), exciting
them. Solar thermal technologies include passive solar systems for heating (or
cooling!) buildings; flat plate solar collectors, often used for providing
households with hot water; and solar concentrator power systems. These systems,
also known as solar thermal power plants, use the sun's heat to create steam,
which then turns a turbine and produces electricity. (Fossil fuel burning power
plants also produce electricity by first creating steam in order to turn a turbine.)
4. Can I heat my house with photovoltaics?
 Using electricity to heat a house, as anyone who
uses electric heat and pays monthly bills to the utility knows, is very
inefficient and costly. Theoretically, one could heat one's home with
photovoltaics (electricity is electricity, whether it comes from PV panels or
from a coal burning power plant). Practically, though, this would be costly, as
producing electricity from a PV system is more expensive than purchasing it from
the utility. One can, however, heat one's house very effectively and cheaply by
harnessing the sun's energy in other ways http://ping.fm/XaIrF

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