Question: how do we get energy from the sun

Paul Brack answered on 20 Jun 2015:

There are several ways we can do this, but they all boil down to the same thing; to get energy from the sun we must be able to get the sunlight to do something useful for us. So, for example, in solar panels, sunlight knocks electrons off materials, and this flow of electrons is a supply of electricity. We can also use sunlight to drive chemical reactions, such as splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen. If we then collect the hydrogen we are essentially storing the Sun’s energy. Another thing we do is use the heat of the sun to warm things up, and use that warming effect to do things for us, like dry our clothes when we put them on the washing line, or heat up our house.