Auguste Mouchout

Auguste Mouchout

Auguste Mouchout was a 19th century French inventor of the earliest solar-powered engine, converting solar energy into mechanical steam power.

Auguste Mouchout, a mathematics instructor at the Lyce de Tours, he supported the idea of finding new alternative energy sources, as the resources of coal which fueled the Industrial Revolution would eventually end. In 1860, his initial experiments involved a cauldron filled with water enclosed in glass, which would be put in the sun and boiled the water, producing steam, which was used for operating a small steam engine. The emperor Napoleon III was impressed by this device and gave him financial assistance for further developing his invention.

Mouchout used his funding to continue his research, increasing the size and power of the device. However, as France renegotiated some better deals for importing coal from England and developed a new transportation system for coal delivery, coal became much cheaper in France and Mouchout's invention was no longer deemed important and he lost his funding.

For more information see [http://www.solarenergy.com/info_history.html]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем решить контрольную работу

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Auguste Mouchout — Le français Auguste Mouchout, en 1860, s’intéressa le premier à l’énergie solaire. En concentrant des rayons de soleil, il produisit de la vapeur qui actionnait un petit moteur. Il fut professeur de mathématiques au lycée de Tours et défendit l… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Solar energy — is the light and radiant heat from the Sun that powers Earth s climate and weather and sustains life. Since ancient times it has been harnessed for human use through a range of technologies. Solar radiation along with secondary solar resources… …   Wikipedia

  • Solar thermal energy — Solar thermal system for water heating in Santorini, Greece …   Wikipedia

  • Timeline of steam power — See Steam engine, Steam power during the Industrial Revolution. Steam power developed slowly over a period of several hundred years, progressing through expensive and fairly limited devices in the early 1600s, to useful pumps for mining in 1700,… …   Wikipedia

  • Concentrating solar power — (CSP) systems use lenses or mirrors and tracking systems to focus a large area of sunlight into a small beam. The concentrated light is then used as a heat source for a conventional power plant or is concentrated onto photovoltaic surfaces .… …   Wikipedia

  • Concentrated solar power — The PS10 Solar Power Plant concentrates sunlight from a field of heliostats onto a central solar power tower. Concentrated solar power (CSP) systems use mirrors or lenses to concentrate a large area of sunlight, or solar thermal energy, onto a… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”