Solar power is the conversion of sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV), or indirectly using concentrated solar power (CSP). Concentrated solar power systems use lenses or mirrors and tracking systems to focus a large area of sunlight into a small beam. Photovoltaics convert light into electric current using the photoelectric effect.

Commercial concentrated solar power plants were first developed in the 1980s. The 354 MW SEGS CSP installation is the largest solar power plant in the world, located in the Mojave Desert of California. Other large CSP plants include the Solnova Solar Power Station (150 MW) and the Andasol solar power station (150 MW), both in Spain. The 97 MW Sarnia Photovoltaic Power Plant in Canada, is the world’s largest photovoltaic plant.

The sun radiates 100 Petawatt hours of energy to the earth per hour.

using solar power could save 100 Pwh of energy, 67,050,000,000 tons of co2, 12,500,000 tons of mercury a year, a 300,000,000,000 cubic meter lake, a 25,143,750,000 cubic meter tank of gasoline, 2,857,142,857,000 metric tons of toxic lead, 40,000,000,000 tons of coal, 5,000,000,000,000 metric tons of limestone, 81,547,297,300 tons of air pollution per year, 2,000,000,000 tons of sulfur, 3,200,000,000 tons of fly ash, 33,525,000,000 tons of biomass, 18,625,000,000 tons of carbon, 25,641,025,640 metric tons of zinc, 30,000,000,000 tons of coke, 670,500,000 metric tons of benzene, 4,157,100 tons of VOCs, 67,050,000,000 tons of climate change, 5,000,000,000/7 tons of haze, 4,000,000,000 tons of sulfur dioxide, 30,000,000,000 tons of pitch, 180,000,000 tons of NOx, 94,112,601,370 tons of hydrocarbons, 280,000,000,000 tons of nitrate, 26,820,000,000 tons of water vapor, 111,750,000,000 tons of chlorine, 800,000,000 tons of sulfur oxide, 150,862,500,000 tons of sawdust, enough energy to power a CFL for 5,308,219,178 years, $12,000,000,000,000.00

one megawatt of solar power saves almost 700 pounds of smog per year, 13895,625/2 cubic meters of rain, 22,233 tons of air pollution per year, a 1,111,650 cubic meter lake, over 900 metric tons of global warming per year, 200,867,744/9 decibels of sound intensity, 7,411/5 tons of ozone each year, 1,937,531,840 square meters of natural habitat potential, 770,744/81 tons of dust each year, 1,210,957,400/69 tons of soda ash, 22,233/20 tons of particulates each year, over 741,100 tons of CO₂, 145,314,888/25 metric tons of life, 242,191,480/191 metric tons of ethanol, 411,310,500/5,491 tons of ammonia, 24,678,630/323 tons of methanol, a 9,254,486,250/155,873 cubic meter container of propane, a 5002,425/17 cubic meter container of biodiesel, 14,822/219 tons of CFC, a 185,089,725/4,726 cubic meter tank of diesel fuel, 481,715/458 tons of soot, 7,411/220 tons of sulfur hexafluoride, 7,411/123,200 tons of octane, 7,336,890/2,261 tons of potassium hydroxide, $44,466,000.00, gain almost 96,343 tons of oxygen per year

one kwh of solar power could save almost 1/125 pounds of sulfur dioxide, 100 watts of energy, 8/125 ounces of S, 2/25 ounces of nitrogen dioxide, over 7/5 pounds of co2, 1,225/9 metric tons of sulfuric acid, 149/1,000 pounds of 1,3-butadiene, 149/2,000 pounds of butane, 32/77 pounds of ethylene glycol, 477/10,000 pounds of chlorine dioxide, 70/77,927 metric tons of trinitrotoluene, 1/12,500 ounces of uranium, 2,331/227,800 gallons of kerosene, 4/195 kilograms of silicon, 1/220,000,000 kilograms of plutonium, 21/200 pounds of boron