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What if anything has been done to channel light power other than Solar Panels?

The ancients used skylights for light in lieu of electricity. Light was used for drying, even cooking foods and drying clothes. Solar clocks/sun dials were once popular but now we have battery operated clocks. Where have we tapped into any of these resources since the outdated solar clothes drier nicknamed the ‘clothes line’?
Good example Omnisource. But I don’t need lasars at home. What about everyday use to save energy?

As your question notes, there are other ways to derive power from solar energy other than just using solar panels.

One such way that has grown rapidly in recent years, is Solar Thermal generation. Solar-thermal uses mirrors to collect sunlight and concentrate it at point to generate intense heat. This heat is used — just as in traditional fossil fuel plants — to boil a fluid, thereby creating steam pressure, which drives a turbine that generates electricity.

Solar thermal has some advantages over traditional solar panels. It’s collectors (i.e. mirrors) are cheaper to manufacture than solar panels and last longer. Also, it uses a generating technology (steam turbines) that is a mature, well-understood technology. Solar thermal is not as downwardly scalable as solar panels — you’re not going to put a small solar thermal system on your roof — but it is a better solution than solar panels for power plant scale applications.

Here’s a good article on the subject.

http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/solar.renewables/page/solarthermal/solarthermal.html

Actually, since you seem to be more interested in home applications, here is some good information on how solar hot water heaters work.

http://www.eere.energy.gov/consumer/your_home/water_heating/index.cfm/mytopic=12850

I have no direct experience with a system like this, but I’ve lived in countries where they use water tanks on roofs as solar hot water heaters, and they work quite well.

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