The Sun has long been recognized as the source of life on our planet. A universal symbol of energy and optimism, more recently it's also seen as the key to resolving one of the most serious problems facing our planet - the impact of fossil fuels on our environment. Solar energy is clean, abundant, free and inexhaustible. But we are only at the very early stages of understanding how to harvest its power.

In Ontario, the government's plan for a new energy supply system has renewed the debate about the potential not just of solar energy but all its derivatives, from wind to biomass fuel to hydro. On Solar Revolution, we meet the pioneers who are changing the way we think about power.

In this series, we find out more about the brilliant solar science driven by a Toronto nano-scientist; we meet community pioneers who are investing and building solar capacity and we look at builders and designers who are experimenting with innovative building techniques and consumer products that exploit solar energy. We meet a manufacturer who sees the potential of solar energy to transform the world's poorest slums and policymakers and environmentalists who are working towards the Holy Grail... a source of clean energy that will never run out and that does no harm.