Georgetown Peabody Library

Let it shine, the 6,000-year story of solar energy, John Perlin ; foreword by Mark Z. Jacobson

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages 455-497) and index

mapsillustrations

index present

non fiction

Let it shine

bibliography

1250382787

John Perlin ; foreword by Mark Z. Jacobson

the 6,000-year story of solar energy

"The definitive history of solar power and technology. Even as concern over climate change and energy security fuels a boom in solar technology, many still think of solar as a twentieth-century wonder. Few realize that the first photovoltaic array appeared on a New York City rooftop in 1884, or that brilliant engineers in France were using solar power in the 1860s to run steam engines, or that in 1901 an ostrich farmer in Southern California used a single solar engine to irrigate three hundred acres of citrus trees. Fewer still know that Leonardo da Vinci planned to make his fortune by building half-mile-long mirrors to heat water, or that the Bronze Age Chinese used hand-size solar-concentrating mirrors to light fires the way we use matches and lighters today. With thirteen new chapters, Let It Shine is a fully revised and expanded edition of A Golden Thread, John Perlin's classic history of solar technology, detailing the past forty-plus years of technological developments driving today's solar renaissance. This unique and compelling compendium of humankind's solar ideas tells the fascinating story of how our predecessors throughout time, again and again, have applied the sun to better their lives--and how we can, too"--Cover, page 4

adult