Mr. FUQUA. Next will be Dr. Erich Farber from the University of Florida, a renowned researcher in solar energy.

Dr. Farber.

Dr. FARBER. I'll just quickly put my slides on the machine and then I will proceed.

[A biographical sketch of Dr. Farber follows:]

DR. ERICH A. FARBER, PROFESSOR AND RESEARCH PROFESSOR OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; DIRECTOR, SOLAR ENERGY AND ENERGY CONVERSION LABORATORY, UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA

Dr. Erich A. Farber has pioneered in the fields of heat transfer, fluid flow and energy conversion. He has built the Solar Energy Laboratory at the University of Florida into one with International Reputation and has led a team in fundamental research for NASA on Liquid Rocket Propellant Characteristics, which influenced some of our largest rocket designs. He has over 200 publications, coauthored 3 books, and received many honors, among them a Citation from the Air Force for his work in Solar Energy Conversion; the Worcester Reed Warner Gold Medal from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers for "Outstanding Contributions to the Permanent Literature of Engineering"; The Missouri Honor Award, a Gold Medal and Citation for "Distinguished Service in Engineering”; is listed in the Engineers' Joint Council "Engineers of Distinction"; in "Outstanding Floridians"; Who is Who in the World; World Who is Who in Science; Leaders in American Science; American Men of Science, etc. He received a number of Scholarship Awards, developed the “Boiling Curve" in heat transfer, which is quoted in all books on heat transfer, developed a method of heat transfer surface treatment which is referred to in the literature as "Farberizing". He was awarded the Wisconsin ASEE Technical Paper Award, Best Teacher Award and has been invited by many Foreign Governments, at their expense, to visit and consult with them. He also is consultant to many industries and U.S. Government Agencies, including Governmental Advisory Committees. He has been made a Fellow in the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.

Dr. Farber was a member of the NSF/NASA Solar Energy Panel which prepared a report "Solar Energy as a National Energy Resource". He is a member of the "Solar Energy Working Group" established by the Federal Government for U.S.-U.S.S.R. Cooperative efforts in Solar Energy, and he has been appointed by Governor Askew to the Florida Energy Committee.

STATEMENT OF DR. ERICH A. FARBER, PROFESSOR AND RESEARCH PROFESSOR, DIRECTOR, SOLAR ENERGY AND ENERGY CONVERSION LABORATORY, UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA

Dr. FARBER. Mr. Chairman, ladies, and gentlemen, it is indeed a pleasure to be here today to tell you a little bit about the work that we have been doing for about three decades in this very important field, which we feel can only become more important as time goes on.

I will make a few, very brief statements. I have a paper attached to my testimony, which will give our work in much more detail, and general utilization and conversion of solar energy, and I will show a few slides pertaining to this particular subject of solar heating and cooling of houses.

Mr. FUQUA. We will make all of that a part of the record. [The paper referred to follows:]

SOLAR ENERGY CONVERSION RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT AT THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA SOLAR ENERGY AND ENERGY CONVERSION LABORATORY

UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA, GAINESVILLE, FLORIDA

SOLAR ENERGY: CONVERSION AND UTILIZATION

(By Dr. Erich A. Farber, Professor and Research Professor of Mechanical Engineering Director, Solar Energy and Energy Conversion Laboratory, University of Florida)

Widespread concern with our energy situation and crisis, and what meeting the ever increasing demand of this energy does to the environment through pollution, prompted the writing of this paper. It presents the over-all activities of the Solar Energy & Energy Conversion Laboratory of the University of Florida rather than the technical details of one particular investigation.

The laboratory has looked into old methods of converting solar energy into the forms of energy needed, has used the present state of the art, and has pioneered in many areas of solar energy utilization.

It is obvious from all surveys and reports that we are using our fossil fuels at a tremendous and ever increasing rate so that in the not too distant future these supplies of energy, so vital to our present growth of civilization, will be depleted. For this reason it is of utmost importance that we look for other more permanent sources of energy and learn to use them before the dire need arises. Solar energy is readily available, well distributed, inexhaustible for all practical purposes, and has no pollution effects upon the environment when converted and utilized.

Our present usage of energy can be compared to a family or group living off their savings, stored in a bank, and being steadily depleted. This process cannot go on very long unless some "income" is added to the savings.

In the field of energy the most abundant "income" is solar energy. This incoming energy was, usually in very in-efficient processes and over millions of years, converted into our fossil fuels. With these savings rapidly disappearing we will have to learn to use this income, in the form of radiant energy, directly by converting it into the forms of energy needed.

This conversion from solar energy into the desired forms should be done in the fewest possible steps and along the most direct route. This procedure will insure the most efficient way of doing this and will keep the equipment necessary simplest.

Solar energy has certain characteristics. It is intermittent, only available during the day on a particular location on the surface of the earth. In spectral character it approximates a black body source of about 10,000F, modified by gaseous layers of both the sun and the earth atmosphere.

It arrives on the surface of the earth both as direct radiation and diffuse radiation. The former portion can be concentrated if desirable.

A knowledge of the specific properties of materials under solar irradiation will then allow the collection and, or concentration and absorption of this energy. If night time operation or operation during bad weather conditions is necessary or desirable the storage has to be provided. For many applications this is not necessary. The energy could be stored in conventional manner as potential energy (pumped water, etc.) as heat in hot water storage tanks or rock bins, as chemical energy utilizing chemical processes, the latent heat or heat of fusion, etc.

In other words the technology has been developed to convert and utilize solar energy, the economics and sociological acceptance has still to be worked out in many cases. These problems vary from region to region and therefore take on a local character to be worked out by the potential users.

To be most effective, local materials should be used in fabricating by local methods and labor fitting the economics and habits of the local civilization.

With this introduction of a general nature the paper will now go into some of the work done by one group and the best way to do this is to take you on a tour through the Solar Energy Laboratory of the University of Florida in the United States of America.

UF SOLAR ENERGY LABORATORY

The University of Florida Solar Energy Laboratory is one of the largest laboratories of this kind and a tour through it will give an idea what such laboratories look like and the kind of work which is carried out in them. The work carried out at this laboratory is supported by work and persons all over the world and proper credit should be given to them. Fig. 1 presents the entrance, within the gate to the laboratory and two of the four buildings.

Stepping around these two buildings one can see some of the equipment of the laboratory which will be discussed in more detail in the paper and the following illustrations. Fig. 2 shows this equipment with engines of various types in the foreground, behind them collectors and concentrators of various types. On the left of the picture are a small solar air-conditioning system and two solar water heaters, a solar still and parabolic concentrators. Further visible are a solar power plant, a solar still, the solar furnace and solar calorimeter to investigate the solar properties of materials. In the background partially visible is a five ton solar air-conditioning equipment.

SOLAR PROPERTIES

The first step in utilizing solar energy is to find materials which will withstand the exposure necessary in the equipment to be built. To do this we take some of these materials and expose them under rather realistic operating conditions to the weather and the sun. Fig. 3 shows different plastics exposed to the environment, stretched over cans which are filled with water or sand or wet soil, etc. If these materials deteriorate after a short time the investigation is terminated.

Those materials which, however, withstood this exposure test satisfactorily are then investigated in our Solar Calorimeter as to their reflection, absorption and transmission characteristics under actual solar irradition.