Harnessing Solar Power and Earth's Renewable Energy Sources
Overview
In 1839 a young physicist experimenting with light discovered the photovoltaic effect, which would be exploited to create the world's first solar cells. The resulting photovoltaic cells were slowly perfected over the following century, and in 1954 Bell Laboratories developed the first practical solar cells, made of silicon. By the late twentieth century scientists had embraced these clean, renewable (and modular) energy sources, finding numerous applications to take advantage of the Sun's power. In the course of finding applications for solar power, scientists also searched for alternatives to fossil fuels, turning to other "green" technologies such as wind, hydro, and geothermal power.
Background
From man's earliest days on Earth, he has investigated his natural surroundings, exploring infinite uses for the byproducts of nature—water, stone, wood, metals. As this scientific exploration evolved, man's interest in his world produced a curiosity for the heavens, and he began studying the Sun and the stars in the sky, discovering, in the process, that sunlight provided energy. While the largest solar energy system on Earth occurs naturally in its green vegetation (where the sunlight causes chlorophyll to combine the air's carbon dioxide with water supplied by plant roots, producing carbohydrates—sugars, starch, and cellulose), man searched for synthetic methods to harness the sunlight.
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