Solar technologies are broadly characterized as either passive or active depending on the way they capture, convert and distribute sunlight and enable solar energy to be harnessed at different levels around the world, mostly depending on distance from the equator. Although solar energy refers primarily to the use of solar radiation for practical ends, all renewable energies, other than geothermal and tidal, derive their energy from the Sun in a direct or indirect way.

Where do the majority of renewable energies derive their energy from?