History Of Solar Energy

“WHAT HISTORY COULD YOU GIVE ABOUT SOLAR ENERGY.

KNOW THAT THIS ENERGY EXISTED BEFORE YOUR ENERGY CAME”

It is widely seen that energy has played an essential part in the development of an economy. Earth is blessed to have enormous energy that is classified as conventional and non-conventional. Conventional energy is the one which is used for many years and is in abundance in nature. It seems to be one of the most sustainable ways of generating electricity through solar energy which is clean and safer. Solar energy has the greatest amount of potential among the rest of the resources used as it is very cheap and can be used by anyone. 

WHEN WAS SOLAR ENERGY FIRST USED?

As we know that solar energy is not a new invention but it started in the early 7th century and is seen as the most valuable one till now.

Earlier where we used glass and mirror to light fires and today we use solar panels to make our day to day need feasible.

Later on different scientists discovered various observations regarding solar energy.

First one came in year 1767 in which the swiss scientist named as horace de saussure was given the credit of building the world’s first solar collector which was used later on by sir john herschel to cook food.

OTHER IMPORTANT EVENTS IN THE HISTORY OF SOLAR ENERGY

(1830’s-1860)

Secondly, in the year 1839 french scientist edmond becquerel discovered the photovoltaic effect while experimenting with an electrolytic cell.

In the year 1860 french mathematician august mouchet gave an idea for solar powered steam engines. In the following year he with his assistant constructed the first solar powered steam engines and used them in various purposes.

(1891-1904)

And last but not the least in the year 1891 clarence kemp patented the first commercial solar water heater which is now widely used in the households.

But this is not the end of the history of solar but the new discoveries came in the 1990s, such as in the year 1904 wilhelm hallwachs discovered that a combination of copper and cuprous oxide is photosensitive and that cannot be used in the solar panels which will provide electricity.

(1910-1916)

In the year 1914 the existence of a barrier layer in photovoltaic devices was noted.

While in the year 1916 it was noticed and proved the photoelectric effect by Robert Millikan.

(1947-1954)

During the year 1947 passive solar buildings were built. In the mid 1950s architect named frank bridgers designed the world’s first commercial office building which used the solar water heating. This system was continuously operated since the time the building was made. In the year 1954 Gerald Pearson developed the photovoltaic cell at bell labs which is one of the famous labs of the time which was the first solar cell capable of converting enough of the sun’s energy into power to run everyday electrical equipment for a longer period of time.

(1960’s-1970’s)

Later in 1960s Hoffman electronics were seen to achieve 14%efficient photovoltaic cells. During 1964 nasa launched the first nimbus spacecraft which was a satellite which was powered by a 470 watt photovoltaic array.

Later in 1970s new solar cells were designed of whose costs were less and were used for power navigation, railroad crossings and domestic solar applications were considered as sensible applications.

(1980’s-1990’s)

During 1980s ACRO solar became the first company to produce more than 1mgwatt of photovoltaic modules in one year.

After that the period of the 1990s was seen to be very crucial in the formation of solar energy as new technologies add on to it. It is seen that the formation and the utilization of solar has been very impactful since ages and till now it is being used and have improved the conditions of industries, households and companies. Overall development of the whole world.

India is a country which has abundant form of sunlight entirely for 9months out of 12months which makes it a significant factor to use it easily and maximize it to the best of all.While seeing through the history it is seen that solar energy played an important role in the earlier history too.

PRESENT DAY SOLAR ENERGY

In fact nowadays also the usage of solar energy has increased due to high level of pollution these days when the air we breathe cannot be inhaled as it is so toxic that it can harm your lungs solar energy is seen to be a ray of hope in this situation.

There are companies that are basically there to make solar panels and help in the areas where not getting the basic electricity is a major issue. History can be boring if to know but the most important thing to know is that we have always achieved the heights by giving the best to the masses and is seen in a short span of period as the cheapest and the most valuable source of energy that has been used widely. It's usage has increased over a time period and seeing all these aspects i feel that there is a bright future of solar energy it will be beneficial to both the company and the household.