Word: solarity
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...recently as a decade ago, the whole idea of directly tapping solar energy was considered by many to be little more than a form of permissible idiocy, a harmless pursuit for a handful of engineers and tinkerers. Only six years ago, the Federal Government budgeted a mere $1 million for solar-energy research; this year the sum will be almost $180 million...
Abundant Energy. The growing popularity-and respectability-of solar-energy systems stems in part from the price of oil, which has quadrupled during the past five years, and is likely to climb still higher after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) meets in December. The prices of natural gas and coal have also increased, and reserves of all three fuels have dwindled, forcing economists to look ahead to the day when they might be unavailable at almost any price. "We eventually will have very little left but solar energy," says Erich Farber of the University of Florida at Gainesville...
...Solar power has many attractions. It produces neither pollution nor radioactivity. It is inexhaustible; the sun is expected to burn with undiminished brightness for billions of years. Finally, it is abundant, though diffuse and difficult to collect. The amount of solar energy reaching the earth averages 126 watts per sq. ft. Even in a northerly location such as Madison, Wis., the amount of solar energy striking an acre of ground is equivalent to 10 bbl. of oil per day, while that hitting a roof is in most cases more than enough to meet the energy needs of the building below...
...Solar energy is being tapped in many strange and wondrous ways. In New Mexico, where the sun is seldom obscured by clouds. Inventor Steve Baer heats his futuristic-looking home by means of a "passive" solar system that has a minimum of mechanical components. The south-facing walls of Baer's home outside Albuquerque are floor-to-ceiling windows, and behind these glass panels are walls composed of water-filled 55-gal. steel drums. The drums absorb the sun's heat by day, radiate it at night when the windows are covered by huge clamshell-like shutters...
...Rocks. "Active" systems, which work more like conventional gas or oil heating arrangements, are also becoming popular. George Löf, director of the Solar Energy Applications Laboratory at Colorado State University, uses an original installation in his home in Denver. Löf's house is fitted with plate-type solar collectors, sandwiches of glass and black-painted, heat-absorbing metal that warm trapped air like a series of shallow greenhouses. Fans then force the heated air through ducts to cylinders filled with rocks that hold the heat. When warmth is needed, air from the rooms is circulated...