California’s electric utility companies are required to use renewable energy to produce 20 percent of their power by 2010 and 33 percent by 2020. A main source of renewable power will be solar energy

• Solar Energy is measured in kilowatt-hour. 1 kilowatt = 1000 watts.

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

• About 30% to 40% of our total energy consumption is used to cool the house.

• A home solar system generally includes solar panels, an inverter, wiring and support structure.

• A 3-kilowatt home solar system takes about 1-2 days to install.

• A 3-kilowatt home solar energy system consists of 12 solar panels and requires about 100 square feet.

• A sunny location (like Los Angeles, California, US) has an average of 5.5 hours of sunlight per day each year.

• A cloudy location (like Hamburg, Germany) has an average of 2.5 hours of sunlight per day each year.

• A 3 kilowatt home solar system will generate approximately 4,800 kilowatt hours per year in a sunny climate (5.5 hours of sunshine daily) and approximately 2,250 kilowatt hours per year in a cloudy climate (2.5 hours of sunshine daily).

• Did you know that a 3-kilowatt home solar system will prevent approximately 510 lbs. of coal from being burned? Also, stops 900 lbs of CO2 from being released into the atmosphere and 315 gallons of water from being consumed each month?

• A solar system usually comes with a 10-year warranty and solar panels have a production warranty for 25 years.

• Sunlight travels to the earth in approximately 8 minutes from 93,000,000 miles away, at 186,282 miles per second.

• Solar energy is responsible for the weather patterns and ocean currents.

• Clouds, pollution and wind can prevent the sun’s rays from reaching the earth.

• The amount of sunshine energy that hits the surface of the earth every hour is greater than the total amount of energy that the world human population consumes in a year.

• A world record was set in 1990 when a solar powered aircraft flew 4060km across the USA, using no fuel.

• Amazing that accounting for only 5 percent of the world’s population, Americans consume 26 percent of the world’s energy.

• Electric ovens consume the most amount of electricity, followed by microwaves and central air conditioning.