History of Solar Energy Use
The sun has been the primary source of energy for man since life began on earth. Its power has been harnessed for heating homes and starting fires to heating the water used for cooking. Over the centuries, technology has further advanced to harness the sun’s energy to create electricity.
Warming the Waters
From popular Roman bathhouses to ancient Chinese towns to the solar powered water heaters made popular at the turn of the century in Florida and California, solar energy has been in action for different people at different places for different usages, be it in homes, or for leisure industries.
Ancient Greeks were not ignorant of the power of solar energy; in fact, they deemed those who were ignorant of the sun’s power as “barbarians and primitives.” Aeschylus, an ancient Greek philosopher and playwright, commented on those who were ignorant of the power of solar energy as “having eyes but not seeing, having ears but not understanding. They lived in confusion and without purpose, viewing shapes in dreams rather than reality. Not understanding the real purpose of houses, they were like the ants running around beneath the ground in darkness.”
Although Aeschylus made his comments in 5 B.C., the harnessing of solar energy continued to advance. One of the more modern solar water heating systems was invented by Clarence Kemp, who patented the Climax, his first solar water heater for homes, in 1891. The Climax’s revolutionary design made it so that little of the heat would be lost from the enclosed tanks.
Many forms of solar water heaters came on the scene soon after in the 20th century. The Day and Night solar water heater is considered the best innovation, with technology that included separate solar panels and an insulated tank; the system came with a freeze-proof heating liquid to allow constant hot water. Although the availability of huge oil and gas reserves saw a drop in the usage of solar water heating systems in the early part of the century, the 1970s energy crisis brought renewed interest; an interest which continues to grow today.
Solar Cells Come Alive
In 1839 French physicist A.E. Becquerel made an amazing discovery: the photovoltaic effect, which was to become the principle behind the solar cell. This discovery led to the work that would convert sunlight into electricity.
Further enhancements were made in 1883 when Charles Fritts designed a special cell called a photovoltaic (PV) cell, or solar cell which could be used to generate electricity in a controlled manner using the photoelectric effect. This early cell had a limited success. Albert Einstein understood and explained the photoelectric effect in a paper in 1904, which favored him for the Nobel Prize. Later work done by R.S. Ohl would see the solar cell refined and made more efficient. Now, besides just heating homes and boiling water, solar energy could be used to power electrical devices.
The fabrication of PV cells made further progress, albeit in slow increments, throughout the 20 th century. The crawl of progress was partly due to the