This means using glazing to collect heat from the sun. Houses can use south, east and west windows as solar collectors that can provide 100% of your space heating needs. To prevent overheating in the summer plant deciduous trees (trees that lose their leaves in winter) to provide some shade.
Solar water heating can supply a high proportion of hot water especially in summer. It is possible to build your own simple flat plate system or contact a local company that can provide a quote (there are several in the yellow pages now). One local property has disguised solar water heaters between the beams of a pergola! It is now free to put in a submssion for planning permission.
Photovoltaics come in the form of glass covered modules that are bolted to a soft-facing roof and produce electricity from solar radiation, either to drive pumps, charge batteries or (in the UK) feed into the National Grid. In Jersey it is not possible to feed electricty in and be paid for it. Any electricty generated will have to be used in house.
Good quality PV should last for a least 25 years. Although relatively expensive they make no noise, have no moving parts and require little maintenance. they can also substitute for tiles. Eight metres squared of PV will produce a maximum of 1 Kilowatt (kw), over a year you could expect 750 kilo watt hours (kwh), about a quarter of average household use.