Solar Energy Characteristics and Technology

This lecture covers the introduction to solar energy characteristics, energy states in matter, and basics in thermal transport. It also delves into solar thermal collectors, concentrating technologies, solar electricity generation, and electrochemistry labs. The lecture further explores thermochemistry, solar fuels, and electrochemistry, emphasizing solar fuels by photo-electrochemical and photocatalysis. The concepts of geometrical optics, refraction at surfaces, and ray tracing procedures for reflection are discussed. The lecture concludes with an overview of surface emission and absorption/reflection relations, focusing on emission into ddyd0 and emission from diffuse non-gray surfaces.