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.
