[Felicia]

Felicia asked the Naked Scientists:
   
Is solar energy same as light energy?

What do you think?

[Geezer]

Not entirely. A lot of the energy radiated by the Sun is in the form of "light", i.e. it is visible to humans. But a lot of the energy is invisible to us, because its frequency is outside the visible light spectrum.

[robertjhon143]

solar energy is not the same as light energy.yes i am agree with Geezer

[Blunt Zhou]

The two are definitely different. Solar light is more energy-efficient and environmentally friendly than ordinary lighting, and the lighting is brighter.

[evan_au]

its frequency is outside the visible light spectrum

SIlicon solar cells with a bandgap around 0.7V are able to produce useful energy from infra-red photons with energy above 0.7eV.

The extra energy in visible photons is actually wasted by Silicon solar cells. Higher efficiencies have been achieved by directing higher-energy photons to a different semiconductor with a larger bandgap, producing "tandem" solar cells with a total efficiency of over 35%.

But a lot of the (Sun's) energy is invisible to us

The Sun's electromagnetic emissions also occur in infra-red and ultraviolet (with some in X-Rays and radio waves). Calculations suggest that it takes around a million years for this energy to percolate from the nuclear furnace in the center to the visible surface that we see.

But there is a about 3% of the Sun's radiation which is not in the form of electromagnetism at all, but in the form of neutrinos.

These are not blocked by the Sun's incredibly dense core, and reach the Sun's surface in about 1 second - and hit the Earth about 8 minutes later. There are enough that interact with matter that we can actually detect that they are present. But they interact with matter so weakly that nearly all go straight through our solar cells, and indeed straight through the whole Earth, and we can't use them to generate useful energy.

See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_neutrino

[Bored chemist]

Is there a facility for removing the "marked as best answer" highlighting?

[Paul25]

Yes since they both involve photons

[sammer]

No, solar energy is not the same as light energy. Solar energy is the energy produced by the sun through a process called nuclear fusion. Light energy is the energy of electromagnetic radiation, which is a type of energy that can be released in the form of light.

[Janus]

No, solar energy is not the same as light energy. Solar energy is the energy produced by the sun through a process called nuclear fusion. Light energy is the energy of electromagnetic radiation, which is a type of energy that can be released in the form of light.

You are defining "solar" energy by its source, but "Light" energy by its type.  A proper comparison would like like for like either  by source or type.  There are multiple ways in which to produce electromagnetic energy, including nuclear fusion.
In the end, it is the electromagnetic energy that solar panels interact with, and they really don't care what source produced them. 

[acsinuk]

Sunlight energy is electromagnetic photon energy which solar panels absorb at some frequencies better than others. but at the heart of every photon is a magnon which is made of spinning magnetic flux stuff that the solar cell can re-invert into a voltage and hence electric power.. 

[Bored chemist]

but at the heart of every photon is a magnon

You should stop posting this bull.