Perspective: A sunny outlook for solar power: At NSF, a fiftyfold increase in funding over four years may presage a bright future for its solar energy program

The present search for alternate forms of energy in the face of an ever-widening fuel crisis is beginning to take shape along many fronts. One of the most promising of the new technologies ¿ solar energy conversion ¿ has just been allocated $50 million for the 1975 fiscal year by the Nixon Administration. Considering that this amount is close to four times that of FY 1974, perhaps the years of eclipse in solar energy research funding are past. Current efforts of the National Science Foundation (NSF) are further evidence of the trend.