Solar power today is mostly photovoltaic technology that converts sunlight into electricity, with some concentrating solar power, solar hot water heaters, and solar ovens.
about the fascinating history of solar power.Over six thousand years ago, entrances to the homes at the archaeological site Banpo were deliberately oriented toward the midday sun so it would receive the maximum solar heat during winter. Overhanging thatched roofs kept the unwanted much higher sunrays off the house during the hotter months. Submerging the main living space underground moderated interior temperatures throughout the year.
In contrast, Leonardo da Vinci’s interest focused on solar concentrators. He observed that in his adopted city of Florence, metal workers used concave mirrors for soldering and ordinary citizens relied on them to kindle fuel for cooking their main meal of the day. That is why to this day in Italy have their principal dinner in the afternoon. In an age without matches, where fire could be ignited only by laborious friction, solar concentrators made sense.
In the late 1860s, scientists discovered that the conductivity of the semiconductor material selenium was affected by light. An amazed James Clerk Maxwell, probably the highest regarded scientist of his time, wrote to a colleague that when he put the material next to a heater nothing occurred. But when he placed it out in sun, the action of the sun had a powerful effect. From his observation, William Grylls Adams and Richard Evans Day, placed bars of selenium an inch away from a candle.
Why did you become interested in solar power and what motivated you to write your solar power history book?
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