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Today, solar power is everywhere around us while the sun is up, no matter how complicated this may seem. Capturing it for us to use it in a good way is the only thing we need to handle. Really, we can use it for a variety of purposes when we capture this type of energy.

However, most researches have been geared towards developing methods to convert solar power into electricity, and there have been significant developments so far. As it is, the sun can provide nearly 10,000 times more energy for humanity than any other conventional power source we have. Considering the science and the people who relentlessly pursue the ways to let us get hold of this power, the prospects are promising.

There are 3 established ways of catching solar energy today and one is through solar or photovoltaic (PV) cells. We call this solar panels which are made of semiconductor diodes that convert light energy and infrared or ultraviolet radiation into electricity, particularly a DC current. Solar panels are now being used today in households, farms and industrial plants, but they are still not very popular due to the amount of space that is required to have enough panels that generate electricity in sufficient amounts.

The use of solar water heaters is another common way of capturing solar energy today. Solar water heaters tap on thermal solar energy or the sun's heat in order to produce the same if solar panels make use of the sun's light to produce electricity. A flat-plate collector is made of a heat and weatherproof plate covered in transparent material while an evacuated tube collector, which works best in low temperatures, is a combination of two heat-trapping glass tubes attached together on one end. The third type is called concentrating, a term apparently derived from its main action which is to concentrate heat energy onto a receiving tube with the use of mirrors.

The third common way of capturing solar energy is through the use of solar furnaces. These devices are essentially made of mirrors and other reflective materials that focus sunlight into one spot where heat can accumulate to an amount that is enough to produce electricity or hydrogen fuel. Direct and heliostat are the two types of furnace. Both make use of reflective dishes or mirrors, but differ with regards to intensity. Heliostat uses more of these reflective materials and produces more energy than direct.