An average square meter of land receives each year as much solar energy as a barrel of oil contains.

The U.S., “an intense user of energy, has about 4,000 times more solar energy than its annual electricity use. This same number is about 10,000 worldwide [, so] ...if only 1% of land area were used for PV, more than ten times the global energy could be produced....”

Leonardo da Vinci predicted a solar industrialization as far back as 1447.

Solar energy is better for the environment than traditional forms of energy.

Solar energy is becoming more and more popular. The worldwide demand for Solar energy is currently greater than supply.

In one hour more sunlight falls on the earth than what is used by the entire population in one year.

Solar energy is measured in kilowatt-hours. 1 kilowatt = 1000 watts.

1 kilowatt-hour (kWh) = the amount of electricity required to burn a 100 watt light bulb for 10 hours.

A 1-kilowatt home solar system takes about 1-2 days to install and costs around US$10,000, but can vary greatly and does not take into account any incentives offered by the government.

A 1-kilowatt home solar system consists of about 10-12 solar panels and requires about 100 square feet of installation area.

Solar is reliable over the long term. With no moving parts, fixed photovoltaic systems last longer than other energy sources.

A 1-kilowatt home solar system will generate approximately 1,600 kilowatt-hours per year in a sunny climate (receiving 5.5 hours of sunshine per day) and approximately 750 kilowatt-hours per year in a cloudy climate (receiving 2.5 hours of sunshine per day).

About 40 solar cells are usually combined into a solar panel and around 10-12 panels mounted in an array facing due South to receive maximum sunlight.

About 2 billion people in the world are currently without electricity.

Placing your air conditioner in the shade can reduce its energy use by as much as 10%.

If your location receives an average of 5½ hours of direct sunlight per day, a 1-kilowatt energy system can generate about 1,600 kWh annually. That figure falls to less than half the output if you live in a climate prone to cloudy days.

Relying on battery backup, solar panels can supply electrical energy 24×7, even on cloudy days and at night.

Around 43% of the solar energy consumption today is applied for heating water.

The earth receives more energy from the sun in one hour than the world uses in a year.

If the sun suddenly disappeared, the earth would still receive sunlight for 8 minutes.

All television and communications satellites are powered by solar panels.

If your water heater is more than 10 years old, it is probably wasting 50% of the energy it consumes.

If you replace four 75-watt incandescent bulbs that burn four or more hours a day with four 23-watt fluorescent bulbs, you’d get as much light and save more than 2,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity over the 10,000-hour life of the bulbs. If all our nation’s households did the same, we’d save as much energy as is consumed by several million cars in one year.

Energy production and use account for nearly 88% of air pollution, more than 83% of greenhouse gas emissions, and more environmental damage than any other human activity.

In the 1830s British astronomer John Herschel used a sunlight collector box to cook food during an expedition to Africa.

In 5 billion years the sun will run out of fuel.