Solar energy has been around forever – at least as long as we humans can tell. Solar energy has been used for centuries. It dries your hair when you run out of time to use a power blow dryer. It could fry an egg on the sidewalk on a hot summer day. It also melts your ice cream on the same day.

But now, solar energy has a completely new meaning, as does solar energy system. How and why has this happened? The history of solar energy is fascinating.

Coal Started This Story

When coal was being used virtually solely in the Commercial Revolution, it was actually the norm. Nobody was nervous about finding another source of fuel, though they were beginning to use biomass and ordinary fuels, and wood had been used for a very long time. The utilization of solar power was first considered in the 1860s as scientists thought that coal was becoming less available. But in the early twentieth century, coal and petrol were again typically available, and were not too dear.

During the oil embargo (1973) and the energy crisis (1979), the government’s energy policies worldwide were under scrutiny. There was renewed interest in developing solar technologies. Government developed special programs with incentives, like the Sunshine Program in Japan. The United States had the Federal Photovoltaic Utilization Program. Governments in many countries also developed research facilities (United States, Japan, and Germany were notable.)

To be fair, in the US there had already been commercial solar water heaters since the 1890s. There were inflating number of users of these systems, till there were more trustworthy and less expensive fuels. Solar heating was of interest in the oil crisis that occurred in the 1970s but when the cost of petrol went down, so did interest in solar water heaters.

Since the 1990s, there has been increased interest in sun-powered heating, and now it’s the most well-liked solar technology. There are more used of solar power, however.

For office buildings, solar energy can provide daylighting systems and reduced need for air conditioning.

For farming, solar energy can run the pumps, wine presses, and even the chick brooders.

For cooking, solar power is utilized for cooking, drying, and pasteurization. These can be of varied forms, from reflector ovens ( remember using those while camping? ), panel cookers, which use solar cells to collect heat, and box cookers. These can reach temperatures satisfactory to cook just about anything.

To know more about solar heating systems, I recommend you to visit Top Solar Power Guide.

Evans D. Smith

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