Overview

Full Product Details

9789814303378

Table of Contents

Reviews

<p> Power for the World by Wolfgang Palz is more than an Encyclopedia of Solar Cells. Every chapter is fascinating and one cannot help but admire Wolfgang Palz how he was able to find so many of the pioneers in the field that are still alive and can let us partake in the exciting time of their life dedicated to solar and the development of these cells. From the vivid description that Mort Prinz gave of the first months of the discovery that properly doped silicon can transform sunlight into electric energy at an efficiency exceeding more than five times any cell that was sold for the last four decades; it transformed the photocell as it was known then to the first solar cell. Palz let Dieter Bonnet describe his life from his first weeks of finding out that CdTe in combination with CdS makes an attractive thin-film solar cell, and how he survived periods of ample support to this promising field followed by periods in which no more support was deemed worth further investigation. Howe

! an interesting collection of anecdotes concerning solar projects written by the people who were and are actually on the scene. Though the book does not ignore technical aspects, it highlights personal problems and difficulties, especially the institutional and cultural snags that are seldom included in professional papers. In chapter 1, Palz (World Council for Renewable Energy, Belgium) provides a review of the entire field, emphasizing photovoltaic cells. The remaining chapters are authored by solar experts who collectively span the various specialties and national emphases that complicate the construction of viable projects. In each chapter, the author describes his/her educational background, technical specialty, and personal projects. The authors also discuss project failures, which are often omitted from other works even though they may be very instructive to the reader. Solar technology is still in flux, and dead ends are to be expected. Valuable for all students of solar energy. Summing Up: Recommended. All levels/libraries. --J. C. Comer, Emeritus, Northern Illinois University, in CHOICE, August 2011, Vol. 48, #11 Power for the World by Wolfgang Palz is more than an Encyclopedia of Solar Cells. ... Wolfgang Palz is a master in assembling people, themes, and information that makes the reader live the exciting lives of these pioneers with the development of solar cells from its very beginning to the present. He let his many authors describe the fascination with success and the frustration by so many impediments in between. He stimulates the philosophy that leads to this beginning of the solar age. Wolfgang Palz, during his travels through the continents, is a master of creating friendship between scientists, engineers, industries, and politicians worldwide with his charming personality, for the common goal to make this the starting of the solar age. From his desk at the European Union in Brussels he has directed over decades all the essential research in Europe in solar cells. Now he has created a truly remarkable book that needs to find its place on the bookshelf of any one working or interested in solar. It is one of the few books that will be taken out again and again to find more of the exciting description of lived history. The timing of creating this book was exactly right. This is one of the culmination points of Wolfgang Palz's life, congratulations. --Dr. Karl Boer

Author Information

Wolfgang Palz is currently Chairman of the World Council Renewable Energy. He is bearer of an Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (Bundesverdienstkreuz am Bande), has been recognised a wind energy pioneer in Britain, and received the European Prizes for biomass, wind energy and photovoltaics respectively.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available