History of solar energy: it has gotten interesting in the last decade

Believe it or not, the history of solar energy dates back more than 2,000 years, to the Greek and Roman ages, which were the first civilization to plan their homes to make the most of the sun’s rays, both for light and for the heat. The famous Greek philosopher Socrates, recorded for the first time in the stories a writing on renewable solar energy on the power of the sun when he commented that all buildings should be oriented to the south so that they receive maximum sun in the winter.

The Roman aristocracy went a step further when they made the first historical use of window panes on the south side of the villa, the immense cost meant that only the wealthiest class could do this. Two ancient civilizations suffered from what could be considered a modern situation like power shortages; in this case, there was not enough wood to circulate, with wood being the dominant source of heat.

After the fall of the Roman Empire, solar energy was forgotten for over a thousand years.

Until well into the 19th century, it was generally assumed that the world’s supply of fossil fuels was so vast that it would never be depleted, particularly when new resources were regularly found. In 1861 Auguste Mouchet built a steam engine that was fully heated by the sun, however the machine turned out to be expensive to maintain and coal prices were falling, so he could not get support for further development. He then went on to do a study of the industry’s growing needs and commented that the industry’s demands for coal would soon deplete reserves and then what would happen?

There continued to be an interest in solar power and all things electric thereafter, a fascinating fact is that although we think of battery-powered vehicles as cutting-edge technology, until around 1905 there was a higher proportion of electric vehicles on the road until modern times. Its development was halted because battery technology could not practically overcome the weight of batteries on their own. The 1905 world speed championship had more electric cars entered than gasoline-powered vehicles, it was won by a gasoline-powered car with a top speed of 60 miles per hour, that and the falling cost of gasoline prevented the investigation. commercial until the 1973 oil crisis. Refocusing attention on solar power and other types of alternative energy, this almost updates the history of solar power.

The great interest in solar energy, until the 1950s, was limited to scientific research, although the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Albert Einstein for his research on the principle of photoelectric effects in electricity generation. However, it remained almost entirely a scientific research project until 1953 when Bell Laboratories created a silicon-based solar cell that could generate some electricity; However, after three years of development, it still cost sixty times more to generate a watt of electricity using solar rather than using fossil fuels. So the investigation narrowed down until the 1973 oil crisis.

Governments in all countries had to suddenly wake up to a world in which oil prices doubled overnight, so there was huge investment in the search for more profitable solar cells and twenty years later, in the 1990s, we had efficient residential photovoltaic cells, but by then the oil crisis was over for some time and gas was cheap and plentiful again, but for how long?

In the last 10 years, solar cells have increased in efficiency and come down in price to the point where home solar panels are a viable option for home solar power. solar energy.