Article An analysis of potential

Renewable energy plays a crucial role in replacing major part of fossil fuels to generate sustainable, inexhaustible, clean, and safe energy. In Hong Kong, solar energy has been identified suitable for wide-scale applications. Photovoltaic (PV) and solar water heating (SWH) facilities are the two promising solar-based conversion technologies. Electricity and hot water generations via solar energy means fossil fuel saved together with the likely pollutants and greenhouse gases reductions. However, there are a number of barriers including high initial cost and large installation space required. This paper studies the cost, energy, and environmental issues when PV and SWH systems are widely used in Hong Kong. The energy expenditures in the forms of electricity, gas, and hot water, and the global solar radiation in Hong Kong were analyzed. The total required land areas, the financial implications, and the environmental benefits for such solar energy applications were estimated and reported. Practical application: Solar energy plays an important role in replacing fossil fuels to generate electricity without emitting pollutants and requiring no fuel. This paper analyzes the energy, financial, and environ-mental aspects for solar thermal and solar electric installations. The findings in this study provide the information when active solar energy systems are widely applied in Hong Kong