Georgetown Peabody Library

Let it shine, the 6,000-year story of solar energy, John Perlin ; foreword by Amory B. Lovins

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages 455-495) and index

illustrations

index present

non fiction

Let it shine

bibliography

842316230

John Perlin ; foreword by Amory B. Lovins

the 6,000-year story of solar energy

"Unprecedented gas prices, heat waves and droughts, climate change, Solyndra - all make "alternative" sources of energy contemporary areas of activism, controversy, lobbying, and legislation. Yet few know that the ancient Chinese, Greeks, and Romans used solar energy in their architecture; that Galileo and da Vinci both planned uses for the power of the sun; and that by 1918, there were more than 4,000 solar water heaters in California. The history of solar architecture and energy technologies gives readers an epiphany-producing sense of its future. Detailing a realistic alternative to fossil fuels, in illustrations the New York Times called "especially fine, " and prose Library Journal termed "highly readable, " Let It Shine shows that there is nothing - and plenty - new under the sun."--, Provided by publisher

pt. 1. Early use of the sun -- Chinese solar architecture (6000 BCE- ) -- Solar architecture in ancient Greece (500 BCE-300 CE) -- Ancient Roman solar architecture (100 BCE-500 CE) -- Burning mirrors (400 BCE-1700s) -- Heat for horticulture (1500s-1800s) -- Solar hot boxes (1767-1800s) -- pt. 2. Power from the sun -- The first solar motors (1860-1880) -- Two American pioneers (1972-1904) -- Low-temperature solar engines (1885-1915) -- The first practical solar engine (1906-1914) -- pt. 3. Solar water heating -- The first commercial solar water heaters (1891-1911) -- Hot water, day and night (1909-1941) -- A flourishing solar industry (1923-1950) -- Solar water heating worldwide, part 1 (1930s-1960s) -- Saving Airmen with the sun (1943- ) -- pt. 4. Solar house heating -- Solar building during the enlightenment (1807-1850) -- Solar architecture in Europe after Faust and Vorherr (1850-1939) -- Solar heating in early America (1200-1912) -- An American revival (1931-1950s) -- Solar collectors for house heating (1882-1962) -- pt. 5. Photovoltaics -- From selenium to silicon (1876- ) -- Saved by the space race (1971- ) -- The first large-scale photovoltaic applications on earth (1968- ) -- pt. 6. The post -oil embargo era -- Prelude to the embargo (1945- ) -- Solar in the 1970s and 1980s -- America's first solar city (1920s- ) -- Solar water heating worldwide, part 2 (1973- ) -- Photovoltaics for the world (1978- ) -- Better solar cells, cheaper solar cells (1955- ) -- Epilogue