9781608681327

1608681327

9781608681334

"Unprecedented gas prices, heat waves and droughts, climate change, Solyndra - all make "alternative" sources of energy contemporary areas of activism, controversy, lobbying, and legislation. Yet few know that the ancient Chinese, Greeks, and Romans used solar energy in their architecture; that Galileo and da Vinci both planned uses for the power of the sun; and that by 1918, there were more than 4,000 solar water heaters in California. The history of solar architecture and energy technologies gives readers an epiphany-producing sense of its future. Detailing a realistic alternative to fossil fuels, in illustrations the New York Times called "especially fine," and prose Library Journal termed "highly readable," Let It Shine shows that there is nothing - and plenty - new under the sun"-

"Details the history of strategies to use the power of the sun for human benefit, from the architecture of the ancient Chinese, Greeks, and Romans to the widespread use of solar water heaters in California at the turn of the 20th century"-

Solar energy > History.

Architecture and solar radiation > History.

HOUSE & HOME > Sustainable Living.

TECHNOLOGY & ENGINEERING > Power Resources > Alternative & Renewable.

ARCHITECTURE > Sustainability & Green Design.

HISTORY > Civilization.