ABSTRACT
T he T rombe collectors warm the house and nothing else. Water heaters are more in the province of the plumber than of the scientific researcher. In various forms, they have existed for decades, and millions have been produced and sold from Florida to Japan, from southern France to Australia. In his files, Robert had the address of the largest French manufacturer of water heaters, a firm called Heliothermique at Mont-de-Marsan, a largish town in the center of the pine forests that spread over the Landes, the flat “moors” of southwestern France that run from Bordeaux to the Pyrenees. I accepted the address with all the more gratitude because I was curious to see a solar businessman in the flesh.
