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

Author: Perlin, John
Uniform Title: Golden thread
Published: Novato, California : New World Library, [2013]
Edition: Fully revised and expanded.
Physical Description: xxi, 519 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm

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Contents

Machine generated contents note: pt. I Early Use of the Sun -- ch. 1 Chinese Solar Architecture (6000 BCE-) -- ch. 2 Solar Architecture in Ancient Greece (500 BEC-300 CE) -- ch. 3 Ancient Roman Solar Architecture (100 BCE-500 CE) -- ch. 4 Burning Mirrors (400 BCE-1700s) -- ch. 5 Heat for Horticulture (1500s---1800s) -- ch. 6 Solar Hot Boxes (1767-1800s) -- pt. II Power from the Sun -- ch. 7 The First Solar Motors (1860-1880) -- ch. 8 Two American Pioneers (1872-1904) -- ch. 9 Low-Temperature Solar Engines (1885-1915) -- ch. 10 The First Practical Solar Engine (1906-1914) -- pt. III Solar Water Heating -- ch. 11 The First Commercial Solar Water Heaters (1891---1911) -- ch. 12 Hot Water, Day and Night (1909-1941) -- ch. 13 A Flourishing Solar Industry (1923-1950) -- ch. 14 Solar Water Heating Worldwide, Part I (1930s-1960s) -- ch. 15 Saving Airmen with the Sun (1943-) -- pt. IV Solar House Heating -- ch. 16 Solar Building during the Enlightenment (1807-1850) -- ch. 17 Solar Architecture in Europe after Faust -- ch. 18 Solar Heating in Early America (1200-1912) -- ch. 19 An American Revival (1931-1950s) -- ch. 20 Solar Collectors for House Heating (1882-1962) -- pt. V Photovoltaics -- ch. 21 From Selenium to Silicon (1876-) -- ch. 22 Saved by the Space Race (1971) -- ch. 23 The First Large-Scale Photovoltaic Applications on Earth (1968-) -- pt. VI The Post-Oil Embargo Era -- ch. 24 Prelude to the Embargo (1945-) -- ch. 25 Solar in the 1970s and 1980s -- ch. 26 America's First Solar City (1920s-) -- ch. 27 Solar Water Heating Worldwide, Part 2 (1973-) -- ch. 28 Photovoltaics for the World (1978-) -- ch. 29 Better Solar Cells, Cheaper Solar Cells (1955-).

Summary

"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"--
"Details the history of strategies to use the power of the sun for human benefit, from the architecture of the ancient Chinese, Greeks, and Romans to the widespread use of solar water heaters in California at the turn of the 20th century"--

Subject(s)

Genre(s)

History

ISBN

9781608681327 (hardback)
1608681327 (hardback)

Note

Bibliography Note

Includes bibliographical references and index.

View MARC record | catkey: 11573011

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

Availability