Solar Energy

In an endearing scene from the 1938 Frank Capra film classic, You Can’t Take It With You, stenographer Alice Sycamore and her soon-to-be fiancé, Tony Kirby Jr., are seated on a park bench one evening, talking about their lives. During this scene, titled “Tiny Little Engines,” Tony talks about the ambitions that he and a college colleague [Page 1441]once had to discover the secrets to how grasses convert and store sunlight, commenting that if they could uncover those mechanisms, they would have a source that would provide for all of the world’s energy needs. Today, the ethos of this George S. Kaufman/Moss Hart theater classic is a prime driver for governments, policymakers, and multinational corporations worldwide. As the 21st century unfolds, the enormous resources of ...