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Solar Power

Solar Power

Prerequisites

Requires:

• Conservation

Statistics

Gives:

• Filtration Plant

Gameplay

Another step in the cleaning up of man’s environment, solar power is used by The Filtration Plants that increase city growth by making fresh water available to more people.

Historical

Indirectly, almost all power on earth is solar power. The ’fossil fuels’ of coal and oil were originally solar-powered vegetation, wood or peat is only less fossilized vegetation. Only nuclear and gravity-power (such as water wheels) are not ultimately dependent on solar power. Solar power has been used directly by humans for drying or heating since the dawn of time. The modern use of solar energy started in 1954, when Bell Laboratories developed a solar battery that could convert sunlight directly into electrical power. Solar power was not economically competitive with ordinary oil or coal-produced power until 1973, when world oil prices skyrocketed in the wake of the Arab Oil Embargo. Almost simultaneously with that event Joseph Lindmayer had invented a silicon photovoltaic cell 50% more efficient than any previous device for converting sunlight into power. High energy prices stimulated additional research in solar heating for buildings as well as more efficient solar power transformers. By the beginning of the 21st century solar ’sails’ were being used to power the first International Space Station, and interest was growing in the idea of orbital solar panels square miles in size that could beam virtually unlimited energy back to earth. Other applications of solar power in the early 2100s included Water Filtration Plants, which used solar powered evaporation and purification to extract pure water from abundant sources such as agricultural runoff and sewage for cities desperate to keep up with rising urban populations.