The History of Solar Power: Where did it all begin?
The History of Solar Power
Solar power can be defined as the use of heat and light from the sun to perform useful tasks such as heating, lighting and electricity production. These days solar power is on the tip of everyone’s tongue as it is poised to be one of the main long-term replacements for traditional energy sources such as fossil fuels and nuclear fission. Given its importance in the modern world, it is important for the average consumer to have some background knowledge about solar power – where it came from, how it works and how it may affect them. This article will examine the history of solar power, from the earliest uses of the heat and light from the sun to modern applications such as photovoltaic cells.
In some sense humankind has always used solar energy. On the most basic level solar energy drives the life cycle of the earth by providing energy for plants to perform photosynthesis. Humans obtain vitamin D through exposure to sunlight. Our early human ancestors learned that dwellings could be heated by orienting openings toward the sun. Ancient sites around the world that appear to act as calendars show that ancient civilizations had an intimate knowledge of the sun’s position and its behaviour through the course of the year. Legend has it that the ancient philosopher Archimedes used solar energy reflected from a giant mirror to repel an invading fleet. The importance of the sun and solar power in early times points prophetically to our future.
The idea of manipulating solar power in a mechanical sense has its roots in the last two hundred years, with the development of photovoltaic cells. Charles Fritts developed the first such cell in the 1880s, but the concept behind solar power generation was not discovered until 1905 when Albert Einstein published a paper on the ‘photoelectric effect’. This discovery paved the way for more and more efficient solar power generation, as the physical mechanism behind solar power was finally understood. Solar power equipment was developed steadily for the next fifty years as researchers incrementally improved the amount of sunlight that was converted to electricity. A major milestone in the history of solar power occurred in the 1950s, when both the American and Soviet space programs began using solar power for spacecraft – an obvious marriage as solar power is in abundance outside of the earth’s atmosphere. By the 1960s most of these spacecraft were operating on solar power alone.
Beginning in the 1970s rising oil prices combined with the decreasing costs of solar power generating equipment meant that solar power became a more viable option for those with no grid access. Over the next couple of decades environmental concerns such as global climate change, the depleting ozone layer and diminishing air quality helped make renewable energy sources such as solar power more attractive options to conscientious consumers. Today solar power is a real alternative for homeowners looking to make a long-term investment and do their part for the environment. Solar power is poised to begin providing a larger and larger percentage of the world’s energy needs in the coming decades.
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