; Whatever happened to the solar $nergy craze? •

Whatever happened to the solar $nergy craze? • It’s still around, like the sun itself, biding its time in anticipation of the next energy crunch. Meanwhile, technology refined in the 70s is beijig put to some new and creative uses. • Instead of harvesting solar energy, two researchers at the University of Virginia are investigating frays to dissipate it. The studies, funded by the Army, involve infrared signal suppression as a camouflage technique. The aim of the radiation screening concept is to prevent detection of objects by reducing fhe infrared energy they give off due fo the sun’s exposure. The military advantages are considerable.

The same pair of engineers—J. Taylor Beard and F. Anthony Iafihetta _ have worked with representatives of Virginia’s tobacco industry to create environments that are hostile to the tobacco beetle. This bug can also devastate wheat, com, rice &nd other grains once they have been processed and stored. But low temperatures achieved through passive solar cooling have proven an effective alternative to combating the insect with chemical poisons. The concept is known as solar driven absorption refrigeration. - Dissipating instead of collecting. Pooling instead of heating. Dr.

Beard sees these developments as a natural evolution of solar energy technology. He is confident that the economic climate will change and enthusiasm for solar energy will return, despite the absence of federal tax credits that encouraged exploration a decade ago. ; Not that interest has entirely disappeared. • Adjacent to the visitors’ center at the North Anna nuclear station of Virginia Power (formerly VEPCO) $ a 75 kilowatt photovoltaic energy generating facility. Photovoltaic cells convert sunlight directly into electricity. A single silicon cell three inches in diameter can produce about half a watt of energy. The cells of the $1 million unit occupy two gcres of land, and the modest amount of electricity they produce is fed to the company power grid for