Introduction to Applications of Solar Energy

We know that on the global scale till now the major sources of energy are fossil fuels like coal, oil, and natural gases. Because of following three reasons, it is pertinent to use the naturally available renewable energy in the form of solar energy to replace fossil fuel energy: (a) With the advent of science and technology and with ever increasing global population, the total energy consumption is increasing day by day, (b) the fossil fuel reserves world over are fast depleting, and (c) the fossil fuels emit greenhouse gas during combustion, contributing significantly to global warming. Not surprising, during the last two, three decades, hectic research has been going on in almost all developed/developing countries to develop techniques to make maximum use of solar energy through various processes like thermal processes, photovoltaic processes. In India many research groups are actively engaged in studying utilization of solar energy in an efficient way using variety of techniques. The present monograph titled “Applications of Solar Energy” is the result of collection of work done by some such research groups.