Planning A Sunny Future

Planning For A Sunny Future Phoenix Hosts National Solar Conference

Now that our Nation's destiny is largely dependent upon the good will of unstable segments of the oil producing community, the U.S. is at last making a serious effort to put the sun to work in the service of mankind.

It wasn't so serious an effort 25 years ago. It was then that a group of dynamic and dedicated Arizonans with vision enough to foresee the world's energy problems today first got together to do something about it. And what they did was assemble the first world symposium on solar energy in Phoenix.

After all, what was there to be concerned about back there in 1955? Oil was available in abundance at $2.00 a barrel; transportation was limited to the earth's surface or a few miles above it, and communication by transcontinental and transoceanic telephone was quite adequate.

Virtually no one at that time foresaw that the silicon solar cell, displayed at that symposium for the first time by the Bell Telephone Laboratories, would within less than three decades, extend the limits of communication to the farthest reaches of our solar system. And the space race hadn't even been dreamed of. It gained full momentum within less than five years after the 1955 meetings and also drew heavily upon the solar technology and scientific information which was first made public at the World Symposium, later forming the foundation for the tremendous expansion of solar energy activity beginning in the U.S. as an unexpected by-product of the OPEC oil embargo of 1973.

Now, in 1980, Arizona will once again host a significant solar event in the form of the annual meeting of the American Section of the International Solar Energy Society.

The 1980 Solar Jubilee meeting will be held in an atmosphere quite different from that which prevailed a quarter of a century ago. There is a sense of urgency now, as the forecasts of the Solar Energy Society's founders begin to come true. The availability of conventional fuels is seriously jeopardized and their price has risen to levels which would have seemed fantastic in 1955. Availability of oil, gas, and coal is being restricted by political, economic, and environmental considerations which did not exist in 1955. But now, as then, there are few if any limitations being imposed upon the radiant energy from the sun.

from that which prevailed a quarter of a century ago. There is a sense of urgency now, as the forecasts of the Solar Energy Society's founders begin to come true. The availability of conventional fuels is seriously jeopardized and their price has risen to levels which would have seemed fantastic in 1955. Availability of oil, gas, and coal is being restricted by political, economic, and environmental considerations which did not exist in 1955. But now, as then, there are few if any limitations being imposed upon the radiant energy from the sun.

Building upon the work of that first symposium, the topics that will be included in the Phoenix meeting cover the entire range of solar technology. The agricultural sessions will assess the usefulness of solar energy in conventional crop production, and greenhouses will be included because they are now seen to have great usefulness for the heat they can deliver as well as the food they can produce. Controlled environment crop production, an outgrowth of solar distillation, first discussed in 1955, is now taking on significant proportions

Average Annual Hours of Sunshine

as it is extended from agriculture to aquaculture. Production of vast quantities of fast-growing plants is now receiving attention under the general heading of "Bio-mass," with liquid fuels as the goal rather than food. Gasohol, formerly a mid-west curiosity, is now emerging as a valuable supplement, as gasoline prices rise above $1.00 per gallon, with no end in sight.

Twenty-five years ago, a primary interest was the production of algae for human and animal nutrition. Today, fundamental research is being directed towards the enhancement of nature's primary 'solar-chemical process, photosynthesis, for the rapid production of the vast quantities of renewable plant substance which can be converted into the fuels and the lubricants needed to maintain our national mobility.

Studies of the energy source which keeps our planet running, the sun's radiation, are extending in many directions, with primary emphasis upon producing information which can be used with confidence to predict the performance of all kinds of solar installations. Improved and extended radiation measurement networks are now being installed. The variability of the sun's output, reported in 1955 by the late Dr. Charles G. Abbott, has been verified repeatedly by measurements made in space beyond the earth's atmosphere. The need now is to measure its quantity and predict the effects upon our weather of those minor but significant fluctuations.

Wind power and the use of the ocean's temperature gradients are now recognized as manifestations of solar energy and there is a resurgence of interest in these subjects which will be reflected in the 1980 Arizona Solar Jubilee. Both of these energy sources have been tested with installations of significant size and their advocates believe that they can become valuable components of the energy complex which will serve the U.S. during the remainder of this century.

Cooling and energy storage at temperature levels suitable for air condiditioning as well as for heating will receive detailed attention since these are subjects of particular importance in the world's warmer areas. Many of the concepts which were advanced at the 1955 meetings have now been reduced to practice in a wide range of locations and actual test results will be a valuable feature of the 1980 meeting.

A subject that is of great importance today but which received only scant attention 25 years ago is the use of "passive systems," which employ the architectural components of a structure to accomplish the collection and storage of solar heat for use in winter or for dissipation of unwanted warmth in summer. Such techniques were used a thousand years ago by the Anasazi who lived in the colder northern sections of Arizona and by the Hohokam who lived in the much warmer valleys of the Salt and Gila rivers. One magnificent example of the Anasazi cliff dwellings is Montezuma's Castle, which is still virtually intact in its sheltered location only 80 miles north of Phoenix. The design of passively heated and cooled buildings is progressing from the intuitive processes, which were used by those who preceded the Anglos in Arizona Territory, to more sophisticated and quantitative procedures. These will receive much needed attention in the 1980 sessions.

The first solar energy meeting was used by scientists from the Bell Telephone Laboratories to tell the world about their newly developed silicon solar batteries. The Solar Engineering Exhibit showed them for the first time to the general public. In 1980, these devices are so widely used forcommunication purposes that their usefulness is universally acknowledged. Their cost, formerly far too high for all but a very few terrestrial applications, is going down so rapidly that they are now regarded as one of the most promising new additions to the energy mix that will keep our homes comfortable and our offices, institutions, and factories operating during the coming decades.

In 1955, the government's interest in solar energy and its possible applications was minimal. There was virtually no legislation dealing with solar matters, rights to sunshine, if they existed at all, were based on the English common law doctrine of "ancient lights," and no one even imagined that tax benefits might accrue to homeowners who made use of solar apparatus.

Now that picture has changed completely, and for the better, as both state and federal tax rebates are extended to solar systems users. Solar water heating was indeed considered in some detail in the first symposium, but today it has become accepted as one of the most energy-conserving actions that a homeowner can take. In 1955, we learned that the Australians, the Israelis, and the Japanese were using large numbers of simple passive thermosyphon water heaters. In 1980, we know that both passive and active water heating systems are among the most useful and cost-effective applications of solar energy.

The 1955 Arizona solar energy symposium told us about the technology needed today to put the sun to work for us. We're hopeful the 1980 symposium will enable us to put that technology to work.