Photovoltaics years in Northern Europe. The term "photovoltaic" comes from the Greek φῶς ("phōs") meaning "light", and from "volt", the unit of electro-motive force, the volt, which in turn comes from the last name of the Italian physicist Alessandro Volta, inventor of the battery (electrochemical cell). The term "photo-voltaic" has been in use in English since 1849. Photovoltaics are best known as a method for generating electric power by using solar cells to convert energy from the sun into a flow of electrons by the photovoltaic effect. Solar cells produce direct current electricity from sunlight which can be used to power
Life Electric lake landscape. On the 5th August 2015, the local newspaper "La Provincia" announced the impossibility of proceeding with the referendum because the construction was at too advanced a stage, and also because of the cost of the referendum, which would have been €180.559 Life Electric Life Electric (also known as The Life Electric) is a contemporary sculpture, dedicated to the physicist Alessandro Volta (1745–1827). Completed in 2015 it is located in Como, Italy. Life Electric was designed by Daniel Libeskind, and was a gift to Como, the city where the architect located his "“Summer Session”" school of architecture, in 1988.