The entire history of the concept of using the sun's rays for human benefit can be traced back to the seventh century BCE. From this time through the 1st century CE, the sun power was as a means to begin fires.
For the next 1200 years, the sun was a natural heater for buildings. By building structures that took advantage of maximum southern exposure during the winter months, rooms were naturally warmed. After the initial collector was made in the mid 1700s, scientists, mathematicians, and inventors continued researching new metals, concepts, and inventions throughout the 1800s.
In the early 1900s a Nobel Prize winning paper on photoelectric effect was published by Albert Einstein, William Bailley invents the basic design of a collector. After World War II, passive energy buildings were in high demand due to the scarcity of energy during the war years.
The 1960s began expanding the capabilities and power of photovoltaic (PV) arrays. From a 14-watt telecommunications satellite to a NASA satellite that was powered by a 470 watt PV array. By the 1970s, the cost of producing a PV cell, due to design improvements, was reduced from about one hundred dollars a watt to twenty dollars a watt.
In 1978, a 3.5-kilowatt PV system for pumping water and supplying electricity for 15 residences on the Papago Indian Reservation in Arizona was put into use. Nineteen eighty-three saw the first stand-alone home using power from the sun in operation. Panels, for heating water in residences, reach commercial status.
As fossil fuel energy becomes more expensive, the increase in solar technology benefits.
