The period in which we live is a time of many inventions, that change our lives. The pace of these changes is very large and seems to grow. Some believe  that this pace especially increased after the World War II. Others, however, the beginning of rapid economical, social and political changes shift into the nineteenth century, called the age of steam and electricity. It is also said, that this was a period of industrial revolution, in which large-scale production was a transition from the manufactures to the factories. One of its features was the growing demand for energy, which is required for propelling steam engines in the factories. The best raw material for production of energy was coal (forest resources were very limited). However, the coal in France began to run out. But, the only source that allows to cover the growing need for energy is coal? "Necessity is the mother of inventions". With the help of the discoverers invention the other solutions were suggested.  ...

• (Video)

A Primary Sources

Mouchot, Augustin Bernard: La Chaleur solaire et ses applications industrielles 1869, available online:http://archive.org/details/lachaleursolair00moucgoog.
Mouchot, Augustin: Die Sonnenwärme und ihre industriellen Anwendungen, Oberbözberg, Schweiz 1987.
Pope, Charles Henry: Solar Heat, its Practical Applications, 1903, online available:http://archive.org/details/solarheatitspra00popegoog.(enthält eine Übersetzung des Inhaltsverzeichnisses von Mouchots Hauptwerk : Le Chaleur [...])
Simonin, Louis Laurent: Industrial Applications of Solar Heat, [via wikisource], in: Popular Science Monthly 9, Ausgabe September (1876), S. 550–560, available online:http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Popular_Science_Monthly/Volume_9/September....

B Secondary Sources

Bradford, Travis: Solar Revolution: The Economic Transformation of the Global Energy Industry, Cambridge, Mass. u.a. 2006.
Kryza, Frank T.: The Power of Light: The Epic Story of One Man’s Quest to Harness the Sun, New York, N.Y 2003.

see also

• Storytelling HOWTO