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A History of Solar Power 
By: Adrian Fletcher
The history of modern solar power goes back further than you might think. It can be traced back to the middle of the 19th century when scientists, engineers and inventors begin thinking about alternatives to coal. The growing belief that coal was a finite resource that would either run out or lead to political problems seemed to inspire many to start looking at solar energy. This article will detail the history of solar power from this period through to modern times.
From 1860 to 1880, the French engineer Auguste Mouchout developed a solar powered engine. The principle of the engine was to convert heat from the sun into steam power. His inspiration was the increased need for coal in the new industrial age and the knowledge that coal resources could not be sustained forever.
The French Emperor was so impressed with the device that he gave Mouchout a state subsidy to continue developing the engine. The subsidy eventually lapsed without much headway and cheaper coal resources were negotiated putting an end to the solar powered engine in France.
At this time, a similar developing was taking place in India. William Adams created a rack that comprised many small mirrors around a boiler. This produced an engine with around 2.5 horsepower.
In 1885 for approximately 4 years, Charles Tellier performed experiments with solar energy. He eventually created solar collectors that were installed on rooftops. The aim of the collectors was to power refrigeration units.
In 1903, Aubrey Eneas began investigating solar power. He drew his inspiration from the ideas of Mouchout but increased the scale of Mouchout's work. He created a solar power engine that could be sold to the public. In fact he made a sale of one engine to a doctor in Arizona. For around $2000 it was dispatched to Arizona but became damaged soon after and was never operational. Eneas went on to sell one more engine for around the same sum but this was also never operated because it was damaged soon after set up by a hailstorm.
At this time, Henry E. Willsie made two solar plants that collected and stored energy during the day to be used during the night. His innovation was to use flat plate collectors that gave a power rating of approximately 15 horsepower.
In 1906, Frank Shuman improved on Willsies system to create an engine that had a capacity of 33 horsepower. With further enhancements he eventually got his engine to around 55 horsepower.
The solar industry seemed to go into the doldrums during the war years. Not much of note was developed until 1954. Researchers in the Bell laboratories noticed the reaction of silicon with sunlight. The end result was the invention of photovoltaic cells.
A Photovoltaic (PV) cell is the fundamental element that makes up the solar panels that are generally placed on rooftops. Solar panels create direct current from sunlight.
When the energy crises hit in the 1970's, it caused many people to look at how they got there energy resources. This increased the thinking that alternatives to fossil fuels had to be found so that the energy resources couldn't be used as a political bargaining chip again. This increased the interest in solar power. Research went into improving PV cells.
PV cells are now far more efficient and cheaper than they used to be. Given the numerous government incentives, solar panels are within the reach of the average household. Funding has also been increased to make solar power research more successful.
Article Source: http://www.uberarticles.com/articles
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