How can a heat pump deliver more heat than its electricity input?

Energy4–5 minShining sunlight onto a piece of silicon is only the first step in making solar power. When incoming photons knock electrons loose inside the semiconductor, an internal electric field built into the solar cell's layers must separate those charges and guide them into an external circuit before they simply recombine.

Energy3–5 minA turbine's blades are only the visible beginning of the journey from wind to electricity. Their rotation drives a generator, though the machinery connecting those parts differs between turbine designs.

Energy4–6 minWater raised to an upper reservoir stores energy that can later be recovered through a turbine and generator. Pumped storage shifts electricity use across time, with losses between charging and discharge.