Solar hot water, solar heating and heated swimming pool in Santa Clarita, California

Any building constructed after 2006 must, by law, include a solar water heating system. In addition, there are subsidies for older buildings that choose to install this type of system.

There are basically two types of solar energy: thermal and photovoltaic. The first, accumulates the heat generated by the sun in the pipes of a hydraulic system, while the second, generates electricity through a semiconductor material in the plates.

There are also other ways of using solar energy, in fact, there is a lot of innovation in this field because of the desire to avoid the climate change, by exploiting renewable energy. Recently, solar concentrators, that produce, both, heat and electricity, have become available.

Until not long ago, the main way to tap this energy to generate electricity on a large scale were the so-called solar farms, private areas of photovoltaic modules that generate electricity that is sold to the electricity grid. But, there are already commercial solar plants that utilize another technology: thermoelectric, which in turn, has different types. Briefly, the aim is to use mirrors to concentrate the sunlight on a pipe, through which circulates a fluid, which, when converted into steam, moves a turbine that generates electricity.

There are a variety of solar cookers, both mobile and portable. They were created with developing countries in mind, where energy supplies can not always be taken for granted and sometimes firewood is not available or is far from the village. Its use also to reduce CO2 emissions.