An original investigation into the social and technological history of solar power

From the days of Archimedes and Leonardo, the earliest efforts to harness the power of the sun have become the stuff of legend.

But it was not until the industrial revolution, with its great demands for fuel, that inventors --like Prometheus carrying fire from Mt. Olympus--began to build machines capable of channeling the sun's rays into usable energy.

In The Power of Light, solar energy expert Frank Kryza recounts the dramatic saga of solar invention, from its optimistic dawning in the mid-19th century to its impending triumph today. With a fervent passion for his subject, the author introduces solar pioneers such as Auguste Mouchot, whose solar-powered steam engine amazed Napoleon III, and Frank Shuman, whose solar pumping station, in 1911, became the largest and most cost-effective machine prior to the space age.

While presenting a thorough and original investigation into this little-known chapter of science history, The Power of Light offers a sober meditation on the revolutionary impact technology often has on society.

Average Customer Review: ( 4 customer reviews )
Write an online review and share your thoughts with other customers.

The writing is gripping and reads like an Indiana Jones adventure yarn -- this isn't a textbook. And yet, though told like a story, this is nonfiction, and all this stuff really happened. The author points out that the science stories we remember widely from the 19th century, like those of Edison and Marconi, are those that impact our lives today. The story of solar power a century ago has been forgotten because most of us dismiss solar as a marginal technology, one that doesn't (or maybe can't) have a big impact on our lives. That view appears to be changing.

The writer traces the practical applications of solar power technology back to the Greeks and takes us through the 'burning mirrors' of the Middle Ages, but the main focus of the story is on an American entrepreneur who, having made millions from patenting safety devices as a young man, devoted the rest of his life to building huge solar-powered steam engines -- machines he believed could supply most of the energy the world would need in the 20th century.

Solar-powered steam fell into the doldrums during after World War I, but now it is experiencing a revival. There are solar-powered steam plants in California and Spain today (one in Barstow here in CA, which I have seen myself) that can produce 12 megawatts, enough to power 10,000 houses, and it appears that solar powered steam may give PV a run for its money in some locations.

This was a great read. I couldn't put it down.

2 of 2 found the following review helpful:

Lighting the way thru man's historyMar 19, 2006
By Newton Ooi
The various ways of energy creation and consumption have dictated the various paths of human societies throughout our history. And with any journey, the paths not taken are often as interesting as those that were. This then is the subject of this book; the path of solar energy as a viable energy source for western society. The Power of Light describes the use of sunlight to provide mechanical energy for simple uses such as moving objects and boiling water, within the context of recorded Western society.

The book is written in the format of alternating chapters. Half the chapters describe specific time periods when solar energy was in vogue and a lot of activity, scientific and/or economic, was noted. These chapters alternate with the other half of the chapters which tell the story of one man, Frank Shuman, who lived from the late 1800s to the early 1900s, and his lifelong passion of research and development of solar energy. Mr. Shuman's life took him to Europe, America, and North Africa, where he met up with royalty, scientists, and engineers of various nationalities and purposes. In the course of his travels, he readily and constantly pushed the use of solar energy, whether it be in agriculture, moving vehicles, providing power for lighting, or other uses great and small.

The efforts inspired by Mr. Shuman were great and many. One accomplishment close to this reviewer was his meeting with Dr. A. J. Chandler, the businessman who started the city of Chandler, Arizona, which I lived in for 6 years. Dr. Chandler acquired several thousand acres of desert land. To make it profitable, he acquired solar-powered machines to pump water from the Salt River to his land, thereby creating a farm oasis in the middle of the Sonoran desert. Similar successes were repeated in North Africa and the Eastern US.

The book includes diagrams and pictures of the various apparatuses used to harness sunlight. The book also provides a good history of the intellectual property issues that followed the development of solar power. Most importantly, the book shows how the nascent solar power industry in the early 1920s was proving more efficient than coal, but could not outcompete with the rise of the oil industry.

All in all a great book, though I give it only 4 out of 5 stars because it says little about the use of solar power in Asian, African, or Native American societies.

4 of 5 found the following review helpful:

Very enlightening book---no pun intendedJul 08, 2003
By Louis Iatarola
Because I live a block or so from Frank Shuman's inventor's compound in the Tacony community of Philadelphia, and due to my involvement in the local Historical Society, I was compelled to get this book. I read it in its entirety during last week's vacation and I was very impressed. It turned out that the localized focus on Shuman was but a bonus compared to the knowledge I've gained about the history of solar energy development in world history. Not only am I now more astute when it comes to this topic, but I've gained a new perspective on the local legend of Frank Shuman and his place in the evolution of solar power as a legitimate energy source. Mr. Kryza is to be commended for taking a scientific topic and making it interesting to someone like myself.

One for the solar nerdsFeb 07, 2010
By James R. Golden
The appeal of a title such as this will tend, inevitably, to be limited to the technically minded. Having said that, The Power of Light is well-written and accessible. It provides an interesting tour of some of the personalities, and their technologies, which have got us to the current state of solar technology development. Indeed, the book might have benefitted from more, rather than less, detail on the technologies involved. It is also something of a pity that the book limited its coverage to solar energy prior to the First World War - certainly events since then would make for interesting reading as well. But still, this book is worth reading. It surprises us by explaining how many of the technologies we think of as "cutting edge" were actually conceived of, and in some cases prototyped, over a century ago. The cautionary tale for the one-eyed technology enthusiast is: be patient, and pay attention to the marketplace - commercialisation lead times can be lengthy and success is never guaranteed.