"It looks like a fun-house 
mirror, but it gave Gulf a 
clear look at the future 
of solar energy." 
r * 
/; b. 
“There’s more to solar energy 
than the flat black solar collectors 
you see on the roofs of houses,” says 
Staff Engineer Julien Reynaud. 
“For instance, this solar concen- 
trator we developed here at General 
Atomic. It looks like a fun-house 
mirror, but it can heat flowing 
liquids to temperatures up to 1 100°F. 
"General Atomic is 
working hard to 
determine how much 
commercial power 
you can extract from 
sunlight. 
“There are other technologies 
being developed by General Atomic, 
which is 50% owned by Gulf Oil, 
to make solar energy commercially 
practical. C)ur newest solar projects 
include a multiple-effect thin-film 
distillation process that can produce 
a lot of distilled water using low- 
grade heat sources; and polycrystal- 
line photovoltaic cells for convert- 
ing sunlight directly into electricity. 
“There’s still a long way to go. 
We’ll be into the next century be- 
fore sunlight supplies more than 5% 
of this country’s total energy require- 
ments. But there has been progress. 
Solar energy is already working in 
some factories, heating water, 
bleaching textiles, drying lumber. 
“Of course, solar energy works 
best where it’s sunny, dry, and with 
almost no air pollution. But wher- 
ever it works, it frees up precious 
fossil fuels for use somewhere else. 
“Gulf’s research in solar energy 
is one part of our overall commit- 
ment to energy for tomorrow.” 
Gull people: 
energy for tomorrow. 
Gulf Oil Corporation 
