Solar power has been harnessed by civilisations since the days of the ancient Greeks, but it's now on the verge of being more important than ever. Tim Harford examines how much of a challenge it poses to the energy establishment, and what that could mean for the planet's future.
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Sources
Ken Butti and John Perlin, A Golden Thread: 2500 Years of Solar Architecture and Technology, London 1981
Varun Sivaram, Taming The Sun, MIT Press 2018
Werner Weiss and Franz Mauthner, Solar Heat Worldwide: Markets and Contribution to the Energy Supply, Glesidorf 2010, Austria 2012
Jon Gertner, The Idea Factory, Penguin London 2012
Chris Goodall, The Switch, Profile Books London 2016
T P Wright "Factors Affecting the Cost of Airplanes" Journal of the Aeronautical Sciences Vol 3 February 1936
Broadcasts
- Sat 24 Aug 2019 04:50GMTΒι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service except East and Southern Africa & South Asia
- Sat 24 Aug 2019 13:50GMTΒι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service News Internet
- Sun 25 Aug 2019 14:50GMTΒι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service except Americas and the Caribbean, East Asia & South Asia
- Sun 25 Aug 2019 21:50GMTΒι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service except East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa
- Sun 25 Aug 2019 22:50GMTΒι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa only
- Mon 26 Aug 2019 03:50GMTΒι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service South Asia
Podcast
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50 Things That Made the Modern Economy
The stories of inventions, ideas and innovations which helped create the economic world
