Merry Solar Christmas  !

Back in 1983 the College Christmas Star as it was known in the Peace Country of Alberta was quite spectacular at night.  Families drove for miles to view it;  and it made Canada's National Television News.  [Click for Close-Up - 23k]   

Many famous people toured the solar display in the coming years.  Here is Robert Wessell, a pioneer hydroponics scientist from the NASA Space programs of Apollo and Gemini Missions and Franklin Thomas - Photo in 1982.  [Click for Close-Up - 32k]

Operating at -45 Degrees Celsius temperatures, the display was designed to test concentrated solar energy/systems in Arctic climates.  Inside specially designed vacuum tubes temperatures of 140 Degrees Celsius were reached in the shortest and coldest of winter days. The Collector was designed as a test segment of the Miracle House I - Experimental Solar House' Solar Array.   [Click for Close-Up - 36k]

Link to Miracle House I - Experimental Solar House

Later the basic physics of the Project led to this Rooftop Non-tracking Compound Parabolic Solar Panel named the "Winter Solar Panel".  Here is was displayed at the Grande Prairie Fair Grounds in the Annual Chili Cookout heating a large pot of chili.  The display was sponsored by one of the local newspapers.  [Click for Close-Up - 41k]

Link to the Winter Solar Panel

Link to Close-Up Copy of a December 1983 News Article in the Grande Prairie Daily Herald-Tribune - 265K.  

A Project of 
The Peace Environmental Research Foundation

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Last Edited:   June 07, 2008 .....