People act like solar power is something new. They think they'll wait until it
has a longer track record. But in reality solar power is one of the oldest
energy sources there is.
Ancient Egyptians built places to live that allowed stored energy from the sun
during the day, and a heat release during the night. This kind of passive solar
power architecture heated homes at night while keeping the temperature low during the day.
3rd Century B.C.E, Greek soldiers with the help of Archimedes, focused light on a
Roman fleet by using mirrors. The Romans were invading a port city that did not
have defenses ready for the attack. The mirrors were used to concentrate the
energy of the sun, and cause the fleet's sails to burn. The Romans retreated and
the Greeks were able to prevent the invasion.
100 C.E. a historical writer by the name of Pliny the Younger built a house in the
northern part of Italy that had mica windows in one room. This one particular room
demonstrated solar heating in that it's mica windows stored heat, and later gave it
off. This room was useful because the added heat it generated lessened the amount
of wood that had to be burnt.
Roman bath houses had south facing windows that heated the rooms.
Justinian code demanded "sun rights" that ensured access for individuals
to the sun through sunrooms on houses and public buildings.
Native Americans also built houses that used passive solar power. Houses were built
into the side of cliffs or hills to allow storage of heat during the day, and a
release of heat at night.
1767, the world's first solar collector was built by Swiss scientist Horace de
Saussare. In consisted of it from five square boxes of glass, one inside the other.
The bottom of the innermost box registered the highest temperature 189.5º F.
"Fruits. . . exposed to this heat were cooked and became juicy," he
wrote in describing this experiment.
Sir John Herschel, a noted astronomer, made a solar collector while on an expedition
in the 1830’s to the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa. It was a small mahogany
box blackened on the inside and covered with glass, set into a wooden frame
protected by another sheet of glass and by sand that was heaped up along its sides. The outcome of Herschel’s experiments with this hot box was not only scientifically interesting but also pleasing to the palate, as his notes indicate:
Temperatures above that of boiling water (240ºF) were reached cooking on seperate occasions
meat stew and hard bolied eggs.
1839, a physicist from France, Edmond Becquerei observes the photoelectric effect.
At only 19, Becquerel observed that shining light on an electrode submerged in a
conductive solution would produce small amounts of electric current.
Heinrich Hertz studied the effect in solids in the 1870s, producing PV cells that converted light to electricity at 1% to 2%
efficiency. Selenium cells were used as light-measuring devices in photography
(light sensors for cameras are still made from selenium today).
1880's, Visible light converting photovoltaic cells made of selenium were built and
had 1- 2% efficiency.
The story of Sir John Herschel’s experiments intrigued Samuel Pierpont Langley,
the astrophysicist who later headed the Smithsonian Institute. Long interested
in the power of the sun, in 1881, Langley took a trip to Mt. Whitney to study
the effects of solar energy using a collector. He related his experiences in an
1882 issue of Nature.
An 1891 , our nation's first commercial solar water heater, called The Climax, was patented by Clarence Kemp.
There were about 50,000 solar water heaters in use in Miami, Florida alone, from the late 1930s to the early 1950s. Most were replaced by pipelines bringing in natural gas.
1908, William J. Bailley of the Carnegie Steel Company invented a solar collector
with copper coils and an insulated box.
1941, an Rusell Ohl, while employed at Bell Labs, accidentally discovered that the
P-N barrier in silicon led to spontaneous current in a silicon crystal when light
was shined on it, a PV cell.
A book published by the Libbey-Owens-Ford Glass Company in 1947 showcased the
fourty-nine greatest American solar architects.
Early 1950's, A process for producing crystalline silicon of high purity was
developed, called the Czochralski meter.
In 1954 Bell Telephone Laboratories, used the Czochralski process to produce a
4% efficient crystalline silicon PV cell, and later accomplished 11% efficiency.
During the mid-1950's, the first solar water heated office building was built by
architect Frank Bridgers.
In 1958, the US Vanguard space satelitte had a radio that was powered by
a less than one watt power solar cell. NASA has played an important role
in the development of photovoltaics ever since.
From the 1960's to the present oil prices play an important part of the economics
of solar power and other alternative energy forms. In the 1960's cheap imported
oil was the main energy competitor to solar power and restricted the overall solar
technology market.
International markets and foreign investments especially from Germany and Japan
took off in 1970, and continue to be major factors in the solar energy market.
During 1973 - 1974 the oil embargo allowed opportunity for solar power to flourish.
The US Department of Energy funded the Federal Photovoltaic Utilization Program
that began installation and testing of over 3,000 PV systems.
In the mid 1980's incentive for business led to around 150 businesses for
manufacturing industry with annual sales of $0.8 billion.
Gulf War of 1990 renewed interest in solar power as an alternative to oil and
petroleum products.
Mid-1990's have few tax credits and incentives for solar electric homes or heating
systems, yet approximately 1.2 million buildings in the US are solar heated.
In 1998, the Million Solar Roofs Initiative was started by the Department of Energy
to encourage the spread of photovoltaic technology (This program was introduced a year before in
a speech by then president, Clinton.) The aim is to install one
million photovoltaic energy systems on roofs in the United States by 2010.
The federal government promised to jump-start the program by installing such
systems on 20,000 U.S. government buildings. According to DOE estimates the installation of one million solar systems could
eliminate carbon dioxide emissions equal to that of 850,000 cars.
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