A design for a satellite solar-power station proposed by the consultancy Arthur D. Little. The satellite would stay in synchronous Earth orbit for a clear view of the Sun; energy from the panels would be beamed to an antenna on Earth via microwaves.
Credit: TR
The potential of solar energy remains unfulfilled.
In October 1973, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries raised oil prices by 70 percent; by December, it had raised prices an additional 130 percent, and its Arab members embargoed oil shipments to the United States.
The U.S. began to look at alternative sources of energy, like solar, wind, and geothermal. Citing the solar energy available at the rate of 1,400 watts per square meter just outside Earth's atmosphere, an article in the December 1973 TR argued in its title, "Solar Energy: Its Time Is Near." The article, by Walter E. Morrow Jr., associate director of MIT Lincoln Laboratory, provided an economic analysis of solar's potential to transform the country's energy landscape.
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