How much of our energy do we get from Solar power?

pretty much all of it really

even oil and coal is solar energy (dead dinosaurs and plants)

wood is definately solar

wind power is solar

hydropower driven by evaporation so solar also

also direct passive solar

All of it, actually. The petroleum (natural gas and crude oil) found underground, the coal, firewood (trees…), peat (Scotland mostly), camel dung, whatever is all stored solar energy.

It's a pretty small amount right now. The power companies don't want to invest in it because they're stuck in old ways of thinking about things. They look for ways to generate power at a central location and then distribute it to users. That model is a problem for solar because it would require large amounts of land for solar arrays to to generate bulk power.

Solar works better if it's generated in a distributed manner – In other words we need solar panels on every roof in America! Again the power companies are stuck in old ways of thinking, because they can't figure out how to make money that way, but there are other companies that are trying different business models.

Citizenre is a company that manufactures and rents solar panels to consumers for use in residential or industrial areas. Your rental fee is calculated based on the amount of power that the solar panels generate and you use. You pay the same amount per kilowatt as you would buying it from your utility company. If the panels generate more power than you use, it's sold to your regular utility company and you get a credit on your electric bill.

More information at:

I'm not sure of the exact figures, but there are severl advantages and disadvantages I can think of:

Advantage – easy to get. It's not like the sun is going to go out any time soon.

Disadvantage: Coudy days or living where youa re too far north or south to get enough sunlight.

Advantage: Very little maintenace on solar collectors and cells.

Disadvantage: The efficiency of current cells is very low, requiring a LARGE area to be covered and these cells are not cheap.

Advantage: Once you pay for the equipment, it's free energy for all practical purposes.

Disadvantage: Storing that engergy for use during the night or on cloudy days will take much better battery capacity than most people can afford – right now.

A combination of solar, wind and non-poluting sources such as hydro-electric and soem geo-thermal sources is the best solution. We don't need a SINGLE new source of engergy, we need several working together to spread our dependancy.