In this age of skyrocketing gas and oil prices man has been exploring various alternatives to produce power...with cost being the main motivator. One of the potential sources of energy that you see all over the news these days is solar technology. One could easily draw the conclusion that solar energy is a recent technological advancement. This could not be further from the truth.
Leonardo da Vinci is most famous for painting the Mona Lisa, but he was also an avid inventor who dabbled in a myriad of technologies. Some of his sketchbooks show that he was designing ways to harness the power of the sun way back in the fifteenth century. Alas, he did not have the technological means to bring his ideas to fruition.
One could argue that the real start of solar power was in the 1860's when August Mouchet created a solar-powered motor and a steam engine that worked off solar energy. How useful was it? By connecting this steam engine to a refrigeration device he was able to make ice.
In 1883 Charles Fritz created the first solar cell, effectively turning sunlight into an electric current. Later on in the same decade Charles Tellier installed a solar energy system that was capable of heating the water in his house.
In the 1950's the whole idea of solar power was taken up a notch when three employees of Bell Labs (i.e.: Calvin Fuller, Daryl Chaplin, and Gerald Pearson) discovered how well silicon worked as a semiconductor. Why was this so important? Silicon is the substance that most of today's solar panels and solar cells are made from.
These are just a few of the milestones in the history of solar technology. As you can see, the concepts and ideas of solar power have been around for years, but there was no real incentive to see them brought into the mainstream. The concept of solar energy needed a carrot and a stick and it was only going to be a matter of time before we found one.
It was the oil crisis of October 1973 that changed the world's outlook on solar energy. With the price of "liquid gold" going sky high, the U.S. government sprung into action. Not only did they start down the road of diversifying energy sources, they began to invest large amounts of money into solar energy research. This huge and rapid influx of cash helped to create our modern solar energy panels and cells...inventions that are quickly becoming an important mainstay of our technological future.
Leonardo da Vinci is most famous for painting the Mona Lisa, but he was also an avid inventor who dabbled in a myriad of technologies. Some of his sketchbooks show that he was designing ways to harness the power of the sun way back in the fifteenth century. Alas, he did not have the technological means to bring his ideas to fruition.
One could argue that the real start of solar power was in the 1860's when August Mouchet created a solar-powered motor and a steam engine that worked off solar energy. How useful was it? By connecting this steam engine to a refrigeration device he was able to make ice.
In 1883 Charles Fritz created the first solar cell, effectively turning sunlight into an electric current. Later on in the same decade Charles Tellier installed a solar energy system that was capable of heating the water in his house.
In the 1950's the whole idea of solar power was taken up a notch when three employees of Bell Labs (i.e.: Calvin Fuller, Daryl Chaplin, and Gerald Pearson) discovered how well silicon worked as a semiconductor. Why was this so important? Silicon is the substance that most of today's solar panels and solar cells are made from.
These are just a few of the milestones in the history of solar technology. As you can see, the concepts and ideas of solar power have been around for years, but there was no real incentive to see them brought into the mainstream. The concept of solar energy needed a carrot and a stick and it was only going to be a matter of time before we found one.
It was the oil crisis of October 1973 that changed the world's outlook on solar energy. With the price of "liquid gold" going sky high, the U.S. government sprung into action. Not only did they start down the road of diversifying energy sources, they began to invest large amounts of money into solar energy research. This huge and rapid influx of cash helped to create our modern solar energy panels and cells...inventions that are quickly becoming an important mainstay of our technological future.
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