Here is all the research I have so far.
The books I got are helpful, but the information about solar power is spread out and hard to find at times. I will edit this post more and more as I get more and more research.

SOLAR ENERGY

• The sun has 350,000,000 terawatts of power available.
• 15 minutes of exposure to a full sun would be enough to generate the world’s energy requirement.
• 10,800,000 terawatts available from fossil fuels
• Each home is accountable for 22,000 pounds of CO2 emissions yearly
• Basically when the panels are exposed to sunlight, the electrons are separated from the atoms. This movement of the electrons creates the electricity.
• The problem with fossil fuels is the rising prices, increasing demands, declining reserves, and unpredictable supply from external sources.

Solar Energy: The Awakening Science

• In 1974 only 6% of the American public regarded energy as one of the country’s biggest problems. That is the same year Nixon retired.
• A trouble with sunshine as a source of power is that it is spread all over, and it is hard to concentrate. Therefore energy is being lost.

Applied Solar Energy: An Introduction

• After World War 2 George Keck built the popular image of the solar home. He discovered it while building a house of all glass windows. Even though it was frigid outside and there was no artificial heating the working were talking off their shirts and were sweating terribly.
• The Solar Energy Research Institute was born from the chaotic rush into alternative energy in 1973 after the OPEC oil embargo.
• Solar Energy has had trouble becoming very popular because of four reasons. SERI was never given the level of support that it needed to pursue its wide-ranging vision. Its budget was half what the national Academy of Sciences recommended. It had enormous ground to make up in comparison to other energy sources.
• The organization of the institute was a mess. No one knew what the purpose of their regional center. No one knew which center was in charge.  
• SERI was supposed to research solar heating and cooling of buildings, agricultural and industrial process heat applications, solar thermal electric generation, photovoltaic technology, wind energy conversion, bioconversion, ocean thermal energy conversion, and low-head hydroelectric power. The research of each was completely different. Therefore SERI never had a definite direction.
• The head of SERi was incompetent. He viewed his job as a fun adventure in the Wild West as opposed to a challenge of a lifetime.
• Once Denis Hayes became head of SERI, and the 1979 energy shock started pushing the political agenda, SEIR morale returned.
• In just four years the cost of photovoltaics dropped by a factor of three as money poured into the field and production.
• When Reagan took office he promoted decentralized energy sources. This was not good for solar energy because no private corporation was willing to invest in it. Solar research and production needed government aid.