How can we get more energy from the sun?

Question: How can we get more energy from the sun?
- Keywords:
  energy,
  solar,
  technology
Asked by Chickenman3000 to Arthur, Clare, Daniel, David, Tora on 13 Nov 2014.
- David Wilson answered on 13 Nov 2014:
  
  Build more solar panels! Some people have suggested building giant solar panels in space, which would beam the energy back with laser or microwaves. This would allow them to get energy 24/7 without any of it being absorbed by the Earth’s atmosphere. The main problem is that they would be really, really expensive!
- Daniel Parsons answered on 13 Nov 2014:
  
  We have the technology now to capture energy from the sun and in a few years I think that we could possibly have photovoltaic cells that are nearly as good as plants at absorbing photons of energy from the sun. The problem we have with not making more of this technology is transporting it from where we can best generate it to where it is most used….we could put lots in the sahara desert for example but we loose so much energy in overhead electric lines (about 50%) across the distance needed to bring that energy to North Europe. So as well as devising new solar panels scientists are also looking at new ways to store energy!

Question: How can we get more energy from the sun?