It wasn't hard for early Man to see the value of the sun's warmth. In many cases he would travel North to South and back simply to make the best of its use. Some tribes even worshiped it.

Modern Man isn't all that different in many ways. We travel to the beach or even just soak it up in our own yards. For our entire history the Sun has made us feel good. It will continue to do so for a long time to come.

Many have seen the benefits of Solar energy and its inexhaustible power. The ancients built homes facing South to capture the Sun's heat. In the mid-19th Century Auguste Mouchoud created a solar steam engine. The word 'posh' even derives from knowing and using the Sun. (Posh, or 'port out, starboard home' actually had to do with keeping COOL rather than warm.) Many other systems were experimented with during the late-1800s and all were doomed to fail due to more cost-effective solutions such as coal being available.

Research and workable results in harnessing the Sun's energy reached a near standstill in the first half of the 20th Century, but interest in the subject continued thanks to a small group of thinkers including Albert Einstein. When Bell Laboratories created the first photovoltaic cell in 1953 the modern age of solar power kicked off. It remained very unaffordable however --a fact which has only recently been overcome.

Fast-forward to the past two decades and we see they have brought major advancements in all of the technologies used in bringing solar energy to the table of the average person. The batteries, the control units and the 'panels' themselves all perform far better at a fraction of what they once cost.

When simple passive-solar systems such as those used by the ancients were the only source of energy available they worked very well and were very affordable. But our industrialization during the past century or so provided a number of far less expensive alternatives the likes of coal and oil though and solar took a back seat. Then a remarkable thing happened.

The cost of 'conventional energy' increased markedly and the technological curve finally caught up for harnessing solar power. Where photovoltaic panels used to be very expensive and not very efficient, new methods have been developed which wipe these considerations away. Where batteries were once big, messy and troublesome to maintain, battery technology is the best it has ever been. Where power inverters used to cost as much as a house, they can now be had for the value of a few hours work. The energy sources we are accustomed to are what has become unaffordable which makes solar power --even if only supplemental-- a very sensible alternative because these technologies will only continue to improve.

Capturing and storing your own power from a free source is the ultimate insurance policy. Its time has come.

"The Sun is not just for tanning anymore."