ABSTRACT

Since we will now be talking about solar cells, a qualifier is again needed: “power a little later.” Here, the writer is on the shakiest ground. While there are any number of courts he can go to for a verdict, there is no supreme court. We have already heard advocates of thermal power shooting down solar cells because of cost. It is true that the solar cell is the most expensive way to make electricity that anyone has ever marketed. It is also the branch of solar science in which the largest sums are being spent to bring costs down. We have watched solar cells operate on the roof of Karl Boer’s house in Newark, Delaware. They were cadmium sul­ fide cells, those stepchildren of the space program that had forsaken them for silicon, more efficient and durable although more expen­ sive. No matter what it is made of, the solar cell is almost irre­ sistible: no heat, no steam, no smoke, no working parts, just add sunshine above and see the electricity come out below. It is so convenient that, despite its price, it finds buyers not only for use in space and on the loneliest of ocean buoys. Industrialists have been talking of a pocket calculator running on solar cells; a solarpowered watch has gone on sale, capable of soaking up enough

electricity for four months after only four minutes of exposure to an autumn sun. One learns of a solar battery charger for hearing aids to be sold to rich deaf campers.