>> hi, my name is pete shoemaker and well toll energy center. i'm standing in front of a model of a home. this is one of the tools we use here to assess solar energy. five years ago i was in a position similar to that of many of you. i was a homeowner thinking about solar electricity for my home. i had to answer a bunch of questions. one, does this stuff work? would it work on my home and most importantly, can i afford it? well, i did the research. i bought a system. now i get to share that knowledge and that experience with you. for the next 30 minutes, we'll have a class in solar basics and we'll go out in the field and see an actual solar system being installed. 30 minutes, solar basics, stay with me. >> let's talk about the technology, what is it and how does it work? there are three types of solar actually when you sauk about solar. i want to avoid the confusion to make sure we're focusing on the right one. two of them involve heating water and they're very viable technologies, can be very coast effective but we're not going to deal with th