Go outside on a sunny day. The light falling on your face left the sun just eight minutes ago. In that time it traveled 93 million miles. That golden sunlight is full of tiny packets of energy called photons, which move at 186,000 miles per second. (Moving at that speed it would take you less than 1/8th of a second to circle the earth). Those photons are hauling and when they strike a solar panel, their motion can be converted into electricity or used for heating water.

Enough sunlight falls on the roof of an average Colorado house to provide most of its electricity and hot water. Instead of producing more than 25,000 pounds of greenhouse gases each year, as most local homes do, it's possible to meet most residential energy needs with solar hot water and solar photovoltaic systems.