The amount of sunlight reaching the surface of the earth every hour contains enough energy to meet the world’s energy demand for an entire year. As a global leader in energy efficiency and sustainability, Johnson Controls wants to help you harness a portion of the sun’s energy to help you meet your energy needs using this most renewable of resources.

Solar energy can be converted directly (photovoltaic) into electricity through photovoltaic devices. The resulting electricity can offset utility costs.

Photovoltaic energy is the conversion of sunlight to electricity through a photovoltaic cell (PV), a non-mechanical device usually made from silicon alloys. As sunlight strikes a PV cell, it creates an electron imbalance between the front and back surfaces of the cell. Electricity occurs when these two surfaces are joined together by a conductor. Individual PV cells are electrically connected into a packaged, weather-tight module. Depending on the power output needed, modules can be further connected to form a PV array, essentially a generating plant made up of any number of modules.