Origins of Terrestrial Solar Power

This book focuses on terrestrial photovoltaics between 1973 and 1999. The first oil crisis was sparked in October 1973 when some members of OPEC proclaimed an oil embargo in response to American supply of arms to Israel in the Yom Kippur War. The concept of "energy security" has subsequently been broadened to take into account other factors such as the political stability of the regions where energy is produced, and risks associated with transporting it to the point consumption. Other threats such as terrorism also need to be weighed in the balance. Climate science was still very much in its infancy in the early 1970s. The link between atmospheric carbon dioxide and methane with global temperatures was not widely recognized; or as a skeptic might put it, “climate change had not yet been invented”. Along with the external drivers as mentioned previously, a number of internal drivers were also at play.