One wind turbine can produce enough electricity to power up to 300 homes.

Perhaps the future is here now. Shell has predicted that 50% of the world's energy will come from renewable sources by 2040. Shell will also join in a massive renewable energy development project supported by the UAE. Several industrial heavyweights will join them: British Petroleum, Total, and Occidental Petroleum Corp, General Electric, Rolls Royce, Fiat and Mitsubishi.

The human use of solar energy is not new. The history of solar energy is rich. Building methods have for many centuries taken account of the sun’s movements in optimizing its warmth and light.

Renewable energy is energy generated from natural resources - such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides, and geothermal heat - which are renewable (naturally replenished).

Every hour on the Earth's surface falls enough solar energy to meet world energy needs for an entire year. Our energy problems would be solved if we find a way to harvest that energy.

There are five main forms of renewable energy: solar, wind, water, biofuel and geothermal (heat from the earth).

Renewable energy supplies will never run out. While the supplies of coal, oil, and natural gas are limited, sunshine, wind, biomass, and water power are considered almost limitless resources.

Renewable energy sources are used from ancient history: In 200 B.C., people in China and the Middle East used windmills to pump water and grind grain. Also, old Romans were among the first to use geothermal energy to heat houses.

There are five main forms of renewable energy - solar, wind, water, biofuel and geothermal (heat from the earth)

The energy output of a 1 KW solar energy unit is roughly equivalent to the burning of 170 pounds of coal and 300 pounds of carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere.

Solar Collectors transform short wavelengths into long wavelengths and trap this energy in the form of heat which is transferred and transported into a heat storage vault. Solar panels convert selected wavelengths of light into electricity.

The facts about solar energy are not just about technology however. The facts of life include that the adoption of solar energy alone is not going to bring about a sustainable world. Without a greater warmth of positive human interaction it will still be a cold, and unsustainable, world.

Ever the innovator, Albert Einstein won the Nobel Prize in Physics 1921 for his ground-breaking experiments with solar power and photovoltaics.

An average wind speed of 14mph is needed to convert wind energy into electricity.

In 1838, Edmund Becquerel was the first man to theorize about the possibility of turning sunlight into energy. His ideas were considered not worth pursuing.

The UN Development Index ranks Afghanistan 169 out of 174 poorest countries in the world.

In recent years manufacturing costs of photovoltaic cells has dropped by 3-5% per year while government subsidies have increased. While to some such facts about solar energy seem trivial, this makes solar energy an ever-more affordable energy source.

That PV industry today is 10 times larger than 1998 and likely to grow by 50% annually in the coming years; solar power is on the verge of reaching cost parity with conventional energy sources

As renewable energy technology develops and fossil fuel prices increase solar energy becomes more affordable. And there are no crippling, rising importation costs of coal, oil or gas.

The largest wind turbine in the world, located in Hawaii, stands 20 storeys tall and has blades the length of a football pitch.

A world record was set in 1990 when a solar-powered aircraft flew across the USA in 21 stages, using no fuel at all.