INTRODUCTION

Despite its obvious abundance, solar energy has not been exploited except in limited ways. Systems for heating and cooling homes or for generating electricity with sunlight could be built now, but initial costs are prohibitive and solar collectors inefficient. However, as costs for fossil fuels rise, solar energy assisted by advanced technology may well offer a viable alternative to nonrenewable fuels.

Proponents of solar energy believe it to be one of the most underfunded areas of energy research and hope that more moneys will be channeled towards solar research as we search for fuels for the future. Until recently, much of what we knew about solar energy was a result of research conducted in the 1950's and reported at the United Nations Conference on New Sources of Energy held in Rome [Item 33] in 1961.

However, the energy crisis of the 1970s' has prompted renewed interest in solar energy's possibilities. To meet the energy crisis, President Nixon delivered a message to the U.S. Congress on June 4, 1971. In response to this message, the Solar Energy Panel was established within the Committee for Energy R&D Goals, under the Federal Council of Science & Technology in the Office of the White House. The Solar Energy Panel (as described by W. Cherry and F. Morse in their article Conclusions and Recommendations of the Solar Energy Panel, Item 9) was to

"review the potential use of various energy sources and to
recommend R&D effort which should be undertaken to assure
our nation an abundant supply of clean energy in the future...
Three areas evolved where solar energy could supply significant
amounts of the Nation's future energy needs: (1) energy for
heating and cooling of buildings (2) the production of fuels
and (3) the generation of electrical power.

"It was concluded that with adequate R&D support over the
next 30 years, solar energy could provide at least 35% of
the heating and cooling of future buildings, greater than
30% of the methane and hydrogen needed in the U.S. for
gaseous fuels (all of which could be derived from organic
wastes), and eventually greater than 20% of the electrical
power needs of the U.S. All of this could be done with a
minimal effect on the environment and a substantial savings
of nonrenewable fuels."

Not everyone shares such an optimistic view or shares such faith in solar energy. The following bibliography includes material voicing both the positive and negative aspects of this energy alternative.

SOLAR ENERGY

GENERAL

Item

1

Applied Solar Energy, January/February 1965--. (any issue)

Cover-to-cover translation of the Russian journal Geliotekhnika.
Articles on all aspects of solar energy.

2

Association for Applied Solar Energy.
Living with the Sun. Phoenix, 1958.

60 p.

728.6

₤A 842

3

Sixty plans selected from the entries in the 1957 international architectural competition to design a solar-heated residence.

Association for Applied Solar Energy.

Proceedings of the World Symposium on Applied Solar Energy, Phoenix, Arizona, 1955. Menlo Park, California, Stanford Research Institute, 1956. 304 P.

621.47 qA849

Papers on all aspects of applied solar energy research.

4

Branley, Franklyn M.
Solar Energy.

New York, Thomas Y. Crowell Co., 1957.

117 P.

621.47 B821

5

Topics include a general discussion of solar energy, and its applications as space heaters, pumps, furnaces, cookers, water distillers, and electric generators. Includes bibliography and

index.

Brinkworth, Brian Joseph.

Making the Best of Solar Energy, in Electronics and Power, May 16, 1974. vol. 20, 356-359.

621.306 q1593

Discusses several studies which have been made on a wide variety
of possible ways in which solar energy might be used for domestic,
commercial and industrial purposes. Some applications are eco-
nomically viable now while the prospects for others are increasing-
ly promising as the era of cheap fuels passes.

6

Solar Energy for Man. New York, Wiley, 1972.

251 P.

621.47

B858

7

8

9

Written for an audience of young people, undergraduate engineers, and "thoughtful" readers. Chapters include "Energy and the Human Condition," "A Review of First Principles", and discussions of the various forms of collection and application of solar energy. Has a reading list.

Brown, William C.

Satellite Power Station: A New Source of Energy?, in IEEE Spectrum,
March 1973. vol. 10, 38-47.

Discusses a proposal originally proposed by Dr. Peter Glaser of Arthur D. Little, Inc. in 1968 for a Satellite Solar Power Station. (see items 16 and 17). Details subsequent studies and the SSPS's prospects. Includes illustrations and references.

Cherry, William R.

Harnessing Solar Energy: The Potential, in Astronautics and Aeronautics,
August 1973. vol. 11, 30-36.

Cherry is the associate head of NASA's Goddard Space Flight
Center and in 1972 served as the Executive Secretary of the
Office of Science and Technology's Solar Energy Panel. Believes
that "for a relatively modest investment, good in perpetuity, our
country could draw a fifth of its total energy needs from sun-
driven machines within fifty years." With references.

Cherry, W. R. and F. H. Morse.

Conclusions and Recommendations of the Solar Energy Panel. A Paper
Presented at the Winter Annual Meeting, November 26-30, 1972. New
York, American Society of Mechanical Engineering, 1973.
12 p.

Solar Energy

10

This report cites three areas where solar energy "could supply significant amour.ts of the Nation's future energy needs: (1) Energy for heating and cooling of buildings, (2) the production of fuels and, (3) the generation of electrical power."

Clark, Blake.

A House That Runs on The Sun, in Readers Digest, May 1974.
31+.

vol. 104,

11

051 R286

Describes Harry Thomason's home in District Heights, Maryland which is chiefly heated by solar energy. Thomason, a patent attorney and engineer, designed and constructed this and two other homes heated by the sun.

Conference on the Use of Solar Energy--The Scientific Basis, University of Arizona, 1955.

Transactions.

Vol. 1. The available energy; measurement of radiation;
Vol. 2. Thermal Process, Part I, Section A - Flat Plate
Collectors, Section B High-Temperature
Solar Furnaces, Solar Power;

Vol.

3.

Vol. 46

Thermal Processes, Part II - Solar House Heating,
Solar Water Heating, Solar Stoves, Solar
Distillation;

Photo-chemical processes;

Vol. 5. Electrical processes.

Tucson, University of Arizona Press, 1958.

642 P.

621.47082 qC748

1955

127

Daniels, Farrington.

Direct Use of the Sun's Energy. New Haven, Yale University Press, 1964. 374 P.

621.47 D186d

"The purpose of this book is to interest scientists and engineers in undertaking research on the direct use of the sun's energy." Material covered includes solar history, radiation, collectors, cooking, heating, distillation, furnaces, thermoelectric and thermoionic conversion, photovoltaic conversion, photochemical conversion, and storage and transportation of power. Includes bibliography.

Utilization of Solar Energy--Progress Report, in American Philosophical
Society, Proceedings, December 30, 1971. vol. 115, 490-501.

506 qA513

Examines progress in water heating, solar cooking, house heating, industrial heating, solar cooling, distillation of water, photovoltaic cells, heat engines, photochemistry, large-scale solar power. Also discusses economic factors involved in solar power. With references.

14 Daniels, Farrington and John A. Duffie, eds.

Solar Energy Research. Madison, University of Wisconsin Press, 1955. 290 p.

621.47 D186

Book based "rather loosely on the Wisconsin symposium (Utilization
of Solar Energy, Madison, Wisconsin, September 12-14, 1953). It
is not a detailed account of the proceedings, nor is it a well-
organized treatise or textbook on the utilization of solar energy.
Rather it is a cooperative effort of most of the experts in the
field to point the way to needed research." Includes solar energy
availability, space heating, solar power, solar evaporation and
distillation, atmospheric phenomena, and conversion of solar to
electrical energy, solar furnaces, photosynthetic and photochemical
utilization of solar energy. Contains bibliography and a survey
of U.S. patents pertaining to solar energy use.

Solar Power, in Science and Public Affairs, October 1971.
27-31.

vol. 27,

The authors propose a "possible method of producing energy from solar radiation at a reasonable cost... By using plastics presently available it may be possible to solve the economic problems of collection... and the energy may be converted via thermal dissociation of water into hydrogen, an efficient, nonpolluting fuel." Article describes the problems of collection, the production of hydrogen, and the utilization of this hydrogen as a major nonpolluting energy source.

Power From the Sun: Its Future, in Science, November 22, 1968. vol. 162, 857-861.