What is “SOLAR” energy? What is “Photovoltaics"?

Very often there is confusion about the various methods used to harness the sun's abundant and clean energy. Energy from the sun can be categorised in two ways:

    1) in the form of heat (or thermal energy)
    2) in the form of light energy.

Solar thermal use the sun's ultraviolet energy to heat substances (such as water or air) for applications such as space heating, pool heating and water heating for homes and businesses. There are a variety of products on the market that utilise thermal energy. Starting with the oldest methods used some 30 years ago, people were known to fit conventional radiators on their roofs and paint them black and with a direct water feed into a cylinder they would have free hot water in the summer months (in the UK). Then came the flat plate collector system - a very basic method of collecting energy from the sun it is a series of pipes filled with water in panels of about 3ft by 4ft which are mounted on your roof and work well in direct sunlight. The ICC advanced solar thermal collectors is one of the Worlds most advanced robust Borosilicate evacuated glass envelope tube system that has been certified to: DIN – EN – ISO 9001: 2000.

Photovoltaics (PV) is a technology often confused with solar thermal and is in fact what many people mean when they refer to "solar energy". Photovoltaics (photo=light, voltaics=electricity) is a semiconductor-based technology (similar to the microchip) which converts light energy directly into an electric current that can either be used immediately or stored, such as in a battery, for later use. PV panels/modules are very versatile and can be mounted in a variety of sizes and applications; e.g. on the roof or awning of a building, on road signs emergency phones or as very large arrays consisting of multiple panels/modules. Currently they are being integrated into building materials (such as PV tiles, which replace conventional roofing tiles). The physical difference between Photovoltaics (PV) and SOLAR is the area required I.E. roof area means that (PV) is more suited to commercial applications unless you have a very large house.

Most of our business comes from word of mouth...
so we feel we should reward your personal recommendations! Every time you recommend us, we will reward you with a payment of £95 every time one of your Family members, friends or work colleagues becomes an ICC customer!
Click here for more information