Research and Development

There was a growing belief by energy technologists throughout the world that reserves of fossil fuel, especially oil, were being depleted so rapidly that the search for renewable sources of energy had become urgent and attention was focused on solar energy to meet this perceived threat. Very little R&D on solar energy utilization had been undertaken prior to 1945, but the late 1950s saw increasing interest in academic institutions in USA and Israel and a few years later in Australia.

Australia in 1953 had no significant indigenous oil or natural gas and it was considered unlikely that commercial quantities would be discovered. CSIRO's Central Experimental Workshops was changing its role from a service group to engineering research and development in areas which were considered to be of strategic significance to the country by virtue of its climate, its natural resources and its needs.

Solar energy was identified as one of these and by 1954 a prototype solar water heater had been built and tested. A report on its design and construction was published. At the 1955 Phoenix Symposium an account of this work was presented by Morse in a paper which was one of the first to set out the principles on which the design of solar water heaters could be based. It drew on what had previously been published, particularly Hout C. Hottel's work on flat plate collectors at Massachussets Institute of Technology (MIT) in USA.

Since there was considerable industrial and popular interest in this work, it was expanded and the group became the CSIRO Engineering Section, later the Division of Mechanical Engineering. It provided the R&D base for the new solar water heater industry in Australia, which now exports both products and technology to a number of countries. CSIRO began its solar energy R&D program in 1953 and by 1970 the Australian solar water heater industry was well established. Solar R&D programs had been set up in the Universities of Queensland, New South Wales and the James Cook University of North Queensland. During the next decade most of the Australian universities and the major institutes of technology had become interested in solar energy utilization.

This set the stage for the 1970 International Solar Energy Society Conference, which was held in Melbourne from 2-6 March, for the first time outside the United States. It attracted world-wide interest and was supported by the Australian and Victorian Governments. It was also recognition of the work of CSIRO's Division of Mechanical Engineering which was the largest group in Australia engaged in solar energy R&D at that time. It is interesting to note that even by 1974 there were no commercialised packaged solar water heating systems on the US market, whereas in Australia there were several brands being marketed by local manufacturers.

Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering