Who would think, in this age of environmental concern, that some people can still feel that solar energy does not work. Some people feel solar will be practical when all the oil runs out. There are over one hundred thousand solar powered homes in the world. These pioneering home owners can now cut their ties to the utility grid and become their own power company. Its energy falls in all our back yards.
Solar energy is decentralized, there are few economies of scale in the collecting of solar energy.
Therefore, many small collectors are just as efficient as one large one. Solar photovoltaic cells, which are a wafer-thin chip of plastic or glass that converts sunlight directly into electricity, were first used in 1958 on the Vangard satellite and have been solar powering our telecommunication industry ever since. Television programming is constantly being beamed around the world using solar powered satellites, creating a global village powered by the sun. A revolution powered by solar energy. Solar photovoltaic cells have helped in man's quest in the exploration of the universe by powering the first space craft to leave our solar system and enter intergalactic space.