How renewable energy became such a hot topic in the nineteenth century

There is nothing new about the desire to phase out the use of fossil fuels and to replace them with solar energy

A news item in May 2015 captured the imagination of those worried about global warming and our dependence on the burning of fossil fuels to generate electricity. A research station in South Africa’s Kalahari Desert revealed how electricity was being produced by ‘zero emission’ generators, powered by solar energy. It looked a very exciting project; one perfectly in keeping with modern times and likely to play to the anxieties of those worried about climate change and pollution. The accompanying photographs, showing parabolic reflectors in the desert aimed at the sun, looked like something from a science fiction film. This could certainly be the future of ‘clean’ energy! Except of course, that it was nothing of the sort. The technology being used at this pioneering pilot-plant was rooted firmly in the nineteenth century.