The enormous population growth and corresponding industrialized world growth have brought up many challenges and issues such as lack of drinking water, food, and inability to access electricity, etc.
One of the main issues associated with growth in human activity is its effect on the environment. Human behavior leading to the emission of CO2 and other pollutants led to the rise of global warming and climate change .
The fossil fuel industry has been a massive emitter of carbon dioxide and the primary source of energy in the world. These international treaties have provided a boost to finding alternative clean sources of energy, like renewable energy, which are considered the perfect candidates to replace/have a share of fossil fuels in the future as they are clean and sustainable .
Solar energy technologies have received a great deal of research and development to enhance their efficiency and reduce its costs. The two leading technologies in solar energy are photovoltaics and solar thermal collectors Photovoltaic (PV) or solar cells is a device use to converts solar energy into electricity, while solar thermal collectors harvest the thermal energy of the solar irradiation, either for use in a thermal application or it is converted into electricity.
A more innovative method of capitalizing on solar energy is to establish a hybrid “Photovoltaic/Thermal (PV/T)” collector, which produces both electrical and thermal energy at once