Solar energy is actually nothing new. People have used solar power as far back in history as the 7th century B.C. In its most primitive state, energy from the sun has been revered and put to use almost as long as man has walked the earth.
The earliest uses of solar power included focusing the sun’s energy through a magnifying glass to start fires for cooking. By the 3rd century B.C., Greeks and Romans bounced sunlight off of “burning mirrors” to light sacred torches for religious ceremonies.
Sunrooms were invented in ancient times to capture solar energy for its natural warmth. These usually south-facing rooms have captured and concentrated sunlight from the famous Roman bathhouses to Native American adobes, and are still popular today in many modern homes.
One legend in Greek solar history is of the scientist Archimedes setting fire to besieging wooden ships from the Roman Empire. The story goes that he reflected the sun’s light energy off of bronze shields, concentrating the rays and attacking the enemy before they made landfall.
Think of it as a kind of ancient solar laser beam. Whether this actually happened in Archimedes’ time or not is unverified. But this experiment in solar power was tested by the Greek navy in the 1970s. They did set fire to a wooden test ship 50 meters away using nothing but the legendary bronze shield and the solar light energy.1
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