Leaders | The solar age

The exponential growth of solar power will change the world

An energy-rich future is within reach

The sun at dawn rising over a solar panel
image: La Boca

It is 70 years since AT&T’s Bell Labs unveiled a new technology for turning sunlight into power. The phone company hoped it could replace the batteries that run equipment in out-of-the-way places. It also realised that powering devices with light alone showed how science could make the future seem wonderful; hence a press event at which sunshine kept a toy Ferris wheel spinning round and round.

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