THIS article was prepared by the Fulmer Research History Group, who have compiled an archive detailing the history of the Stoke Poges-based Fulmer Research Institute, one of the UKs leading R&D organisations in the second half of the 20th century.
In 1973 OPEC, the oil producing countries cartel, increased the world price of crude oil by more than threefold, precipitating an energy crisis. Suddenly there was a great deal of urgent interest in new sources of energy, particularly sustainable sources, and in energy efficiency.
Early development
In the mid-1970s, the Fulmer Research Institute, at that time one of the UKs leading independent research laboratories and based in Stoke Poges in south Buckinghamshire, secured a contract from Calor Group on the use of solar energy for domestic space heating and water heating.
A solar laboratory was built on the site at Stoke Poges, being completed during 1976. The total volume of the laboratory was 280m³, similar to that of a typical dwelling, and it had a total solar collection area of 56m². The construction of this laboratory enabled the thermal behaviour of various types of dwellings to be simulated. It was fully instrumented for monitoring, recording and analysing performance as a function of the local climate, and it could be rotated to study the effect of orientation on solar radiation collection efficiency.
Related research was undertaken under the same programme to identify the materials, components and processes which should be employed in domestic solar heating systems.
The solar collection system consisted of a copper box, painted black, through which water circulated and which was directly heated by radiation from the sun. Bearing in mind that photovoltaic panels had not yet been developed, this was the technology under investigation in the Fulmer solar laboratory.
Installations at Milton Keynes
The Calor Group, the sponsor of Fulmers solar hearing research, took advantage of two developments at Milton Keynes to apply the technology to real domestic dwellings.
The Solar Court at Great Linford, Milton Keynes was a development of nine houses built in 1980. All nine are detached, built to the same pattern and in the same orientation. They are of brick/block cavity wall construction. well insulated and double glazed. Three of them, acting as a control, have conventional gas heating. Another three use the Calor solar heating system on both ground floor and upper floor, and the remaining three use a design by Laing Research and Development with solar panels on the ground floor only.
In 1981, Milton Keynes Development Corporation organized Homeworld 81, an exhibition of full-sized demonstration houses, whose byline was its whats happening to house. The companies that took part were invited to build houses which contained innovative features, either experimental or not then in widespread use within the industry, which could become common features in the next decade. Innovations in design, construction, materials and equipment were anticipated.
Twenty major developers from the following countries Britain, Canada, Denmark, Sweden and New Zealand – participated and between them built thirty six houses. The exhibition was visited by more than 150,000 people during May 1981 and many more in the subsequent months.
One of the most distinctive houses in the exhibition was the Ideal Home Solar House by Architects Dominic Michaelis Associates. The Architects Journal described it as probably the most imaginative and innovatory building on show, whilst Building Design described it as one of the most innovatory and best thought out in a string of low energy dwellings.
The Ideal Home Solar House integrated solar technology by Calor, was based on the installation at the Fulmer solar laboratory.
This solar house is highly insulated, includes triple glazing and has 27m2 of solar collectors on the roof. It has a conservatory to improve the level of passive solar energy received. The solar collectors are more steeply tilted to improve their level of performance in the winter, and they have an improved collector with a selective surface to increase performance. The design incorporates a chemical phase-change salt heat store which is made by Calor Ltd to replace the idea of using water storage for the heat. This allows the size of the heat storage to be considerably reduced. The heat leakage from the store is ducted into the heating system. It is estimated that solar energy will supply over 50% of the heating requirements of the house.
Again, these technical improvements are based on the research at Fulmer.
Development of photovoltaic solar panels
In 1839 a French physicist Edmond Becquerel discovered that certain materials could produce electricity when exposed to sunlight. Four years later Charles Fritts created the first functional solar cells using selenium, achieving a conversion efficiency of around 1%. Although inefficient by todays standards, these early solar cells proved that sunlight could be directly converted into electricity. This became known as the photovoltaic effect and would lead to the invention of solar panels.
Solar technology then advanced slowly, only gaining momentum around the 1950s when silicon solar cells were developed by Bell Laboratories. These cells had an efficiency of around 6% and were used in satellites.
The Oil Crisis in the 70s sparked a growing interest in renewable energy, leading to more research and development of solar panels for homes and businesses. The efficiency of photovoltaic cells continued to increase, making solar energy a viable alternative to fossil fuels.
Modern solar technology is more efficient, affordable and accessible than ever before. The efficiency of commercially available PV panels averaged less than 10% in the mid-1980s, increased to around 15% by 2015, and is now approaching 25% for state-of-the art modules. In the UK, homeowners, schools, and businesses increasingly rely on solar systems to reduce electricity bills, lower carbon emissions and increase energy independence and security.
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