Feb 24 2008

Solar Energy History: A Look At Early Solar Ovens, Modern Satellites And Beyond

The sun has been supplying almost all of the earth’s energy requirements though until the very recent past, energy generating plants used wood, natural gas, coal and also oil to capture the power from the sun. The pioneering inventions of Nicholas de Saussure, who in the eighteenth century created the first solar oven, are one of the first instances of using solar energy as recorded in solar energy history of our times. However, in those early days, solar energy was just something that had to be considered when positioning buildings and homes in a manner that would best catch the rays from the sun.

Major Leap Forward

However, solar energy history took a major leap forward only in the twentieth century when it was ready to take off in earnest, and in fact, in places such as California and also Florida, during the early parts of this century, many thousands of solar water heaters were used though only for a short time before they then fell out of favor with users. Nevertheless, peoples in Australia, Israel and also Japan still use them.

Nevertheless, the seventies saw a major spurt of interest in solar energy because it had become necessary to find alternative energy sources to oil and gas and so, the Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA) raised its budget from thirty-five million dollars in 1976 to one hundred and sixty-seven and a half million in fiscal 1977. Thus, solar energy history then saw another shift in interest towards solar energy although this interest had to still live in the shadow of the need to build new nuclear power generating plants.

Other notable achievements as recorded in solar energy history include using satellites that made use of solar power and such satellites were first used and launched by the Russians in 1957. Moreover, this achievement has since played an important part in researching as well as developing better means of generating solar power.

However, the year 1954 is a very important year in solar energy history and it was then that Bell Laboratories discovered, quite by accident, that silicon could be put to good use in solar energy generation and this came to be a major breakthrough because silicon is extremely sensitive to any light that falls upon it, and this discovery has led to making solar energy devices as many as six percent more effective, and there is plenty of room to further improve their effectiveness.

Along with the discovery of photo-voltaic cells in the forties, and continuing on from when the first solar cell was built in 1833, solar energy history has come a long way and hopefully, with further advances in this technology, will be able to provide sufficient power to heat up every home on the planet as well as every industrial unit.

2 Responses to “Solar Energy History: A Look At Early Solar Ovens, Modern Satellites And Beyond”

1. # andrew inglison 05 Mar 2008 at 5:37 am

   Dear author
   You have an interesting site with many leads and an obvious committment and enthusiam for things solar. However I take some exception, at the ericentric and modern take on solar.
   Youe would be wise to led site vistiors be aware of the long tradition of solar architecture( See Ken Bhutti 2500 years of Solar Architecture (& Urbanism) which tracks the pioneering work of Chinese, Indian, Japanese as well as the work of Greek and roman archiects and designers. Priene (now in Sweat modern turkey is a prime example of efficient compact living. Bhutti outlines how Greek and Roman designs altered because of fuel shortages and took care to bothe orient (& capture througfh thermal mass and demand management, use solar for preheating Thermae bathwater etc. The later work of the Dutch garden tradition (glass assemblies, tilted walls, efficient crop production espaliering etc) and the attempts to incorporate glass lanterns and windows indicate great engagement with “solar”.
   others (eg rappoprt have welle xplained the solar efficiency of Hopi and other native American cultures.
   You focus too narrowly on the technology: when you consider solar drying for food preservation, salt making, development of shades and sails, manufacturing, weather observation, meteorology, clothes drying, photography, etc the “solar” looms far more importantly.
   The peoples in Australia still use them (solar water heaters, indeed we are also hooked to our rotary and extending clothes lines which will work even in shade!. But you also ignore significant technical and solar heater development work in South Africa and solar architecture advances in America, England(Port Sunlight) and even Germany and Austria in the twenties, struggling with housing shortages and economic malaise in the wash-up to WW1. Other related research is in solar greenhouses, algal ponds, solarponds etc. Read Farrington Daniels “Direct uses of Solar Energy” or similar and you will appreciate the wealth and depth and diversity of human interest in “solar”
   If anything it is the necessity of rediscovering and appreciating , by netsurfers and new converts to “solar” the ingenuity and wisdom of forbears who did not have an internet, nor instant communication and who had to accumulate (& share) hardwon knowhow with others.
   You could also consider the energy production of trees and other vegetation ( including kelp and seaweeds), and even the humble amoeba and stromatolites without whom we would not have the gassy mantle (call it atmosphere) in which we live.
   I think you need to put the Savvy back into the posts before becoming glib.

2. # biancaon 08 Oct 2008 at 12:02 am

   lol wow what a great thing to say about all of this!!! keep doing a good job!! oh, yea also thanks veacase you helped me with my school hw!!

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