The Passing of A Solar Pioneer
Let’s take a brief moment to mark the passing of 95-year-old solar power pioneer George Lof, who spent his long life showing people that alternative energy could work.
Lof’s own Denver home is thought to be the first solar powered house ever built and still generates half of its own heat, according to the Denver Post.
Lof, who received his doctorate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technoloy, built his first solar-powered house in 1945 using U.S. War Production Board grants, according to The Wall Street Journal.
He predicted that by 1955, 13 million homes would have solar systems. That obviously didn’t happen, but he felt optimistic about the future of green energy, telling Denver University’s magazine last month:
“We are now at a point where solar is going to move ahead,” Lof says. “Instead of having to make solar cheaper, what needed to happen was for other fuel sources to become more expensive.” Read More »
