Have You Ever Wondered About The History Of Solar Thermal Energy?

Solar thermal energy has become one of the most talked about topics all around the globe. So, did human kind really take these many years to recognize the potential of solar thermal energy? Did we start looking for alternative renewable sources of energy when the depleting sources of conventional energy, left us no choice?

No, that is not the case. You will be surprised to know that it was as early as the 1800s when people started being aware about the gradual death of non-renewable sources of energy. However, the crisis that we face today was a distant possibility back then. This was the very reason why urgent efforts were not made to save the situation.

In the later years of 1830s, Edmund Becquerel had written his findings on the possibility of turning light into energy and had published these. However, the findings were never paid heed nor applied in any form during those times. Therefore, in many records you will be able to find the origin of solar thermal energy applications dated to the experiments conducted by Augusted Mouchout, who was an instructor of mathematics at the Lyce de tours.

Mouchout, in 1860s, had received funding from the then French monarch, so that he could work on a new resource of energy. Using this, he had created a few appliances that used solar thermal energy to run. That included a steam engine, which used solar thermal energy to run itself, and a motor running on solar thermal energy. He even had the sense of humor to create ice by using the energy from the Sun! Mouchout had achieved this by connecting a refrigerating device with the solar powered steam engine.

There was no looking back after these inventions. Slowly but steadily inventions and discoveries related to solar thermal energy started growing. Some of the well known inventions are as follows:

• In 1870s, a deputy registrar by the name of William Adams founded the ‘Power Tower Concept’ that used the solar energy and mirrors to run a steam engine. This concept is still being applied in the modern world.
• In the year 1883, Charles Fritz discovered how to generate electricity by using sun rays.
• In the later part of 1880s, Charles Tellier installed an appliance to heat water for his domestic purposes, by using the solar thermal energy.
• In 1950s the Bell Laboratories team of Calvin Fuller, Daryl Chaplin and Gerald Pearson, discovered the semi-conductor properties of silicon, which is being used in the solar cells till this day.

Hence, it is just a misconception that the energy crisis of the 1970s, had led to the discoveries and inventions related to solar and other alternative renewable sources of energy.