What Is The Original Source Of Solar Energy – The power of the sun is what makes life possible on earth. Efforts to harness solar energy in concentrated form have long been a human pursuit. The history of solar energy is not as recent as some might think as the technology has been around since the 19th century and has received substantial government support since at least the 1970s. Despite massive subsidies, solar energy accounts for less than 1 percent of US electricity generation

The development of solar cell technology, or photovoltaic (PV) technology, began during the Industrial Revolution when French physicist Alexandre Edmond Becquerel first demonstrated the photovoltaic effect, or the ability of solar cells to convert sunlight into electricity. What, in 1839.[2] Nearly four decades later, American inventor Charles Furts built the world’s first rooftop solar array in New York in 1883, a year after Thomas Edison opened the world’s first commercial coal plant.[3 ] Fritts coated the panels with selenium to produce a very weak electric current. However, the process of how light produces electricity was not understood until Albert Einstein wrote a paper explaining the photoelectric effect in 1905, [4] which earned him the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics. had won Becquerel and Einstein’s research laid the foundation for future developments in solar technology.

What Is The Original Source Of Solar Energy

The modern photovoltaic (PV) cell was developed by Bell Labs in 1954[6] and while solar energy remained too expensive for commercial use, the U.S. military in the 1950s explored the potential of PV technology to power satellites. Funded the research. The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory launched Vanguard I, the first spacecraft to use solar panels, in 1958, [8] and NASA launched the first satellite equipped with solar-tracking panels, Nimbus I, in 1964. The US government pioneered much of the early PV technology.

A Short History Of Solar Energy Harvesting

Federal government oil price controls in the early 1970s, followed by the 1973 Arab oil embargo, and the federal government’s Emergency Petroleum Allocation Act of 1973 created an energy crisis in the United States.[10] The crisis affected the federal government’s commitment to solar energy development. Congress passed five energy bills in 1974, two of which presented solar energy as a possible solution to the energy crisis. The “Solar Heating and Cooling Demonstration Act of 1974” mandated the installation of solar heating and cooling units in federal buildings by 1977 to familiarize the public with the new technology.[12]

Basically, Congress was trying to turn federal buildings into solar energy billboards, and it simultaneously passed additional legislation to mobilize several government agencies for research and logistical support to make solar technology affordable. can be made Congress passed the “Solar Energy Research, Development and Demonstration Act of 1974” to create the Solar Energy Coordination and Management Project, an organization that would coordinate agencies such as NASA, the National Science Foundation, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development to improve solar energy. It directs. energy technology and its use for heating and cooling government buildings.[13] The act also created a new federal office, the Solar Energy Research Institute, to research and facilitate the industrial use of solar energy. could The institute, which started functioning in 1977, still exists today as the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

The Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA), another organization created by the 1974 bills, was responsible for providing comprehensive reports on the progress of the agency’s solar program to the highest levels of government, including the president and congressional leadership. [14] The agency’s overall goal was to commercialize solar energy. ERDA installed solar heating and cooling buildings in schools, installed government-sponsored systems in commercial buildings, and built the world’s largest solar installation in New Mexico.[15]

New energy policies continued to be formulated in the 1970s. President Carter called the energy crisis “the moral equivalent of war” and made energy policy a top priority of his administration.[16] President Carter signed the Department of Energy (DOE) Organization Act in 1977, and the agency It was activated on October 1 of the same year. Congress passed the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978, which, among other things, laid the foundation for future net metering policies that required utilities to purchase electricity from “qualified facilities” such as distributed solar generation.[18 ]

Going Beyond Renewable/non Renewable Dichotomy

The goal of this coordinated federal effort was to make solar energy viable and affordable and to market it to the public. Thus, through the Energy Tax Act of 1978, Congress created the Commercial Investment Tax Credit (ITC) and the Residential Energy Credit (or Residential ITC) to provide financial incentives for the public to purchase solar properties. The residential energy credit is calculated at 30 percent of the first $2,000 spent on solar energy and 20 percent of the next $8,000 spent on solar for a maximum of $2,500.

To further push solar energy toward commercialization, Congress passed the Solar Photovoltaic Energy Research, Development, and Demonstration Act of 1978 directing the DOE to “develop a plan for the international marketing of PV systems. “[20] At the time of signing, President Carter drafted the bill. as approving “an aggressive program of research, development, and demonstration of solar photovoltaic energy technologies” and said its “long-term goal is to make electricity from photovoltaic systems economically comparable to electricity from conventional sources.” but to make it competitive.”[21]

Despite the government’s broad commitment, the credit failed to have the desired effect of increasing America’s use of solar energy, as solar power is negligible for electricity generation. President Carter even tried to drum up interest among Americans by installing solar panels on the White House in 1979.[22] Opponents of energy credits in Congress argued that the credits were ineffective and skewed toward the wealthy. [23] In 1979, Representative Bill Frenzel commented:

The principal tax credit bill that we passed last year seems to be very incentivized in the marketplace… the tax credit is not incentivized, but only at the end of the year when the partner finds out that the tax credit Available. And I don’t think that’s a very effective and efficient motivator.[24]

History Of Solar Energy, Solar Power, And The Solar Panel

Opposition in the House of Representatives successfully phased out billions in energy tax incentives in the 1980 crude oil windfall profit tax bill, but both solar tax credits were extended by the mid-’80s. While the residential ITC expired in 1985, [25] the commercial ITC was set at 10 percent in the Tax Reform Act of 1986 and four additional rates until the Energy Policy Act of 1992 made it permanent. The bar was raised.[26]

Declining domestic oil production and increasing oil imports in the early 2000s led to the passage of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPA Act), the first omnibus legislation on energy policy since 1992. . President Bush said at the signing ceremony that the bill “launches an energy strategy for 21.”

Century,” to justify the legislation, citing “high gasoline prices” and “increasing dependence on foreign oil.”[27] The EPAct temporarily raised the commercial ITC to a rate of 30 percent and Reinstated the residential ITC after a 20-year hiatus.[28] The residential credit was capped at $2,000 in benefits for PV solar installations and was scheduled to be retired at the end of 2007.

The Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006 extended the credits through 2008 and opened the residential credit to all solar technologies, eliminating previous language that limited it to PV property.[29] The 2008 Through the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act (P.L. 110-343), [30] also known as the “bailout”, Congress extended the ITC again through 2016 and eliminated the $2,000 cap on residential solar PV properties. . 31]

Understanding The History Of Solar Energy (1839

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, also known as the federal stimulus, extended massive new subsidies to the solar industry. One of the most important and costly energy policies in the stimulus was Section 1603, which allowed companies to receive cash grants equal to 30 percent of the cost of their solar systems in lieu of ITCs.[32] This led to the Department of Energy (DOE ) also channeled money into the Section 1705 loan guarantee program, which has been one of the Obama administration’s primary methods for funding renewable energy projects, including the infamous Solyndra $535 million.[33 ]

In addition to tax credits and grants, the government heavily subsidizes industry with research and development, commercialization, and regulatory support. The Government Accountability Office found that in 2011 and 2012, at least 345 solar energy initiatives were supported by six government agencies.[34]

As a technology that has been around for over a century, solar energy is neither new nor new. Even so, the government has given the solar industry a lot of money since the 1970s, and the special interest handouts have only accelerated in recent years.

[1] US Energy Information Administration (EIA), “Frequently Asked Questions: What is US Electricity Production by Energy?”, last updated March 31, 2015, accessed February 17, 2016 , https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=427&t=3. [2] “The First Photovoltaic Devices,” PV Education.org, accessed December 15, 2015. , 5 Nov. 2015, http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/488483ca-8334-11e5-8e80-1574112844fd.html#slide0. [4] Albert Einstein, Concerning an Investigative Approach to the Emission and Transformation of Light. Annalen der Physik 17 (1905): 132-148, http://einsteinpapers.press.princeton.edu/vol2-trans/100. [5] “Nobel Prize

Most New Wind And Solar Projects Will Be Cheaper Than Coal, Report Finds

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