Solar Energy Has Been Used Before
The 1970s energy crisis and oil embargo caused long lines in gasoline stations, high gasoline prices, and even panic among consumers and investors in the United States, and this is what we can see now. Oil is a non-renewable resource and has been for a long time. The 70s energy crisis was the time when people began to realize the consequences of relying too much on an already depleted energy resource.
The sun’s energy is not a recent development. It has been used for warmth by ancient civilizations. The technologies involved in using this energy for daily use are new.
Edmund Becquerel made public his studies on how solar light can be harnessed into usable energy in the 1830’s. Nobody followed up on this idea or explored any practical use. Thirty years after he published his works, the next breakthrough on solar power came.
Augusted Mouchout was commissioned by the French Monarch to find other sources of energy. Mouchout looked up in the sky for inspiration. His solar powered contractions were quite impressive. His inventions included a steam engine that uses the sun’s light, an ice maker that uses solar power, and a motor that runs on solar energy.
There were several achievements in the line of solar power after Mouchout. William Adams used mirrors to channel the power of the sun to make a steam engine run. Adams’ power tower design concept is still being used today. Charles Fritz did a work in the early 1880s. He later accomplished turning sunlight into electricity, because of his studies.
The 1950s were the most significant time in the development of solar energy. R.S. Ohl discovered that sunlight creates large numbers of free electrons when it strikes Silicon. The free electrons were captured by Gerald Pearson, Calvin Fuller, and Daryl Chaplin in the mid- 1950s. Solar cells and solar panels are made from Silicon cells.
The field of space aeronautics was the first to use the solar cells. The solar cells were used to power satellites. The first satellite to use solar cells for power was launched in 2000. More satellites were launched.
More and more research is being conducted on how to use the sun’s energy. The world oil reserves will be completely deplete in about 30-50 years, according to some. The search for alternative sources of energy continues. The sun is expected to die out in a couple of thousand years, so man can have all the sun’s energy until that day.
The challenge is to create solar energy power that is more cost effective. The costs of photo cells are not cheap to get for most consumers. The science and technology committee is trying to find a cheap alternative source of energy.
