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

By: Contributor(s): Material type: TextTextPublisher: Novato, California : New World Library, [2022]Copyright date: ©2022Edition: Fully revised and expandedDescription: xxi, 521 pages : illustrations, maps ; 23 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9781608687916
  • 1608687910
Uniform titles:
  • Golden thread
Subject(s):
Contents:
Foreword / by Mark Z. Jacobson -- Preface to the paperback edition : the age of the sun begins again -- pt. I. 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. II. Power from the sun. The first solar motors (1860-1880) ; Two American pioneers (1872-1904) ; Low-temperature solar engines (1885-1915) ; The first practical solar engine (1906-1914) -- pt. III. 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. IV. 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. V. Photovoltaics. From selenium to silicon (1876- ) ; Saved by the space race (1971- ) ; The first large-scale photovoltaic applications on Earth (1968- ) -- pt. VI. 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.
Summary: "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.
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction 621.4709 P451 Available 33111011279458
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

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.

Previous hardcover edition published in 2013.

Revision of: A golden thread / by Ken Butti and John Perlin. -- Palo Alto : Cheshire Books ; New York : Van Nostrand Reinhold, ©1980.

"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.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 455-497) and index.

Foreword / by Mark Z. Jacobson -- Preface to the paperback edition : the age of the sun begins again -- pt. I. 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. II. Power from the sun. The first solar motors (1860-1880) ; Two American pioneers (1872-1904) ; Low-temperature solar engines (1885-1915) ; The first practical solar engine (1906-1914) -- pt. III. 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. IV. 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. V. Photovoltaics. From selenium to silicon (1876- ) ; Saved by the space race (1971- ) ; The first large-scale photovoltaic applications on Earth (1968- ) -- pt. VI. 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.

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