Editing Solar energy (section)

==== Solar aircraft ====
[[File:Solar_Impulse_SI2_pilote_Bertrand_Piccard_Payerne_November_2014.jpg|thumb|In 2016, ''[[Solar Impulse 2]]'' was the first [[solar-powered aircraft]] to complete a [[circumnavigation]] of the world.]]
{{see also|Solar Impulse}}
An [[electric aircraft]] is an aircraft that runs on [[Electric motor|electric motors]] rather than [[Internal combustion engine|internal combustion engines]], with electricity coming from [[Fuel cell|fuel cells]], [[Solar cell|solar cells]], [[ultracapacitors]], [[power beaming]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.dfrc.nasa.gov/gallery/Photo/Power-Beaming/index.html|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130217082723/http://www.dfrc.nasa.gov/gallery/photo/Power-Beaming/index.html|url-status=dead|title=Power Beaming|archivedate=February 17, 2013}}</ref> or [[Electric battery|batteries]].

Currently, flying manned electric aircraft are mostly experimental demonstrators, though many small [[Unmanned aerial vehicle|unmanned aerial vehicles]] are powered by batteries. [[Model aircraft#Electric power|Electrically powered model aircraft]] have been flown since the 1970s, with one report in 1957.<ref name="Noth">{{cite web |last=Noth |first=André |date=July 2008 |title=History of Solar Flight |url=http://www.asl.ethz.ch/research/asl/skysailor/History_of_Solar_Flight.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120201032732/http://www.asl.ethz.ch/research/asl/skysailor/History_of_Solar_Flight.pdf |archive-date=1 February 2012 |access-date=8 July 2010 |work=Autonomous Systems Lab |publisher=Swiss Federal Institute of Technology |location=Zürich |page=3 |quote=Günter Rochelt was the designer and builder of Solair I, a 16 m wingspan solar airplane ... 21st of August 1983 he flew in Solair I, mostly on solar energy and also thermals, during 5 hours 41 minutes.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=20 August 2015 |title=Infographic: A Timeline Of The Present And Future Of Electric Flight |url=http://www.popsci.com/infographic-timeline-present-and-future-electric-flight |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160114043033/http://www.popsci.com/infographic-timeline-present-and-future-electric-flight |archive-date=14 January 2016 |access-date=7 January 2016 |work=Popular Science}}</ref> The first man-carrying electrically powered flights were made in 1973.<ref name="JAWA74">{{cite book |last=Taylor |first=John W R |title=Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1974-75 |publisher=Jane's Yearbooks |year=1974 |isbn=0-354-00502-2 |location=London |page=573}}</ref> Between 2015 and 2016, a manned, solar-powered plane, ''[[Solar Impulse 2]]'', completed a circumnavigation of the Earth.<ref name="Batrawy">{{cite news |author=Batrawy, Aya |date=9 March 2015 |title=Solar-powered plane takes off for flight around the world |agency=Associated Press |url=https://news.yahoo.com/solar-powered-plane-takes-off-flight-around-world-041503078.html |url-status=live |access-date=14 March 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306091406/http://news.yahoo.com/solar-powered-plane-takes-off-flight-around-world-041503078.html |archive-date=6 March 2016}}</ref>