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and the “Justinian code initiated sun rights to ensure individual access to the sun. (History
of Solar 2012). Around 1200 A.D. the Anasazi people built their homes in south facing
cliff dwellings in what is now referred to as Mesa Verde. In 1767 the first solar collector
was developed Horace de Saussure from Switzerland. The solar collector, perhaps more
appropriately labeled a “hot box” was constructed of five glass boxes stacked inside of
one another. The outermost box was twelve inches square and six inches high. The
innermost box was four inches square and two inches high (Hot Boxes 2012). In the
1860’s, Frenchmen, August Mouchet and Abel Pifre developed the first solar powered
engine which “became the predecessors of modern parabolic dish collectors.” Next, in
1891, the first solar powered water heater was developed in Baltimore by on Clarence
Kemp. By 1954, “photovoltaic technology was born in the United States” (History of
Solar 2012).
Daryl Chapin, Calvin Fuller, and Gerald Pearson of Bell Labs were the
scientists credited with developing the first, silicon photovoltaic cell which could convert
the sun’s energy to power and generate electricity. The photovoltaic cell was created
from a piece of silicon which contained a trace amount of gallium and lithium and was
approximately five times as efficient as the selenium solar cells used at the time (Perlin
2004). Over the next several decades many technological advances were made to
increase the efficiency of photovoltaic cells. By the mid 1960’s NASA created solar
powered space crafts and observatories. The world’s first solar powered residence was
constructed in 1973 by the University of Delaware. Named, “Solar One,” the residence
employed the use of a roof top solar array to provide power to the residence throughout
the daytime (History of Solar 2012). Between 1997 and 2005 the “Million Solar Roofs
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