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Solar Energy

Solar energy systems can be divided into two basic categories - Solar Thermal (water and sometimes space heating) and Solar Electric (electricity generating).  Solar thermal is simpler, cheaper to install and is widely used in hot climates as a low-tech method of cutting energy bills.  Solar electric systems are more complex, but with rapidly developing technologies are becoming increasingly viable.  Both types of system can be effectively implemented  in suprisingly cool and cloudy climates.

A smaller but rapidly growing field of Solar energy systems is Solar Chemical. These systems collect solar energy by using it to drive chemical reactions, such as zinc reduction. In  the zinc system, the resultant zinc can be used in zinc air fuel cells to provide energy on demand.

More information to follow, but for starters have a look at the following:

Solar Century who are taking photovoltaic solar technology to the masses.  They can design complete energy solutions for business and domestic applications and are actively involved in new product development.

BPSolarex who are the biggest photovoltaic producer in the world and have extensive multimedia educational and marketing information online.

RedRok Energy which is a privately run site with lots of information and links to solar (especially solar thermal) energy resources.

Institut SPF (Institute for Solar Energy) which is a Swiss, University based, standards, infomation and testing agency for solar energy (particularly solar thermal).

Duke Solar Engineering firm behind several large scale solar heat plants in California. 

Swiss Institute of Energy Technology   Have a good range of Solar Chemical Publications at: http://www.pre.ethz.ch/cgi-bin/main.pl?publications