John Perlin has written four highly acclaimed books on solar energy and forestry: A Golden Thread: 2,500 Years of Solar Architecture and Technology; A Forest Journey: The Story of Wood and Civilization; From Space to Earth: The Story of Solar Electricity; and Let It Shine: The 6,000 Year Story of Solar Energy.
In our final excerpt from his new book on the history of solar power, Let It Shine, author John Perlin describes a key moment in the debate over big, centralized solar sites and smaller, distributed rooftop panels.
In an excerpt from his new book Let It Shine, John Perlin reveals how one of the first actions of the new Reagan administration was to dim the lights on what had been a promising start for an American solar energy program. Solar in the U.S. has yet to fully recover.
In an excerpt from John Perlin’s new book, Let It Shine: The 6,000 Year Story of Solar Energy, the solar guru explains how making use of the sun's energy is anything but a new technology.
Analysis: Solar energy writer John Perlin argues that Solyndra's fall from grace reflects a bad choice in technique, and not a fundamental problem with solar energy.
Nuclear engineer Cesare Silvi studied unlikely outside threats to nuclear plants in Italy, which soured him on the energy source and caused him to go solar.
Valery N. Bliznyuk was a young physicist in Kiev 25 years ago during the Chernobyl disaster. His recollections of the slow spread of accurate information about what was really happening suggest parallels with the current nuclear crisis in Japan.
Niyazi Serdar Sariciftci, inventor of the plastic solar cell, reviews the past, present and bright future of his invention with Miller-McCune's solar guru, John Perlin.
Allied troops would be much safer if they could cut the petroleum tether, according to a chorus of military leaders and planners.
Fresh from the European Union photovoltaic conference, our John Perlin takes on some of the misconceptions clouding the solar power movement.
John Perlin, sitting on a solar energy panel at the European photovoltaics conference, laments America's lost lead in the field.
As it's announced that thee-quarters of new photovoltaic systems are going up in Europe, it's fair to ask what happened to the former U.S. dominance in solar.
What lessons from the multiple experiences of Peak Wood can today’s society learn for addressing global peak oil?
When it was no longer easy or cheap to burn trees for development, a new economy had to be forged from fossil fuel.
The Mycenaean world was built on a solid base of bronze, but that edifice was found to have wooden feet.
Wood, as fuel and building material, is the unsung hero of the technological developments that brought humanity from a bone-and-stone culture to the Industrial Revolution.
Two planets diverged in a solar system, and the successful one took a path more wooded.
It's better to light a single solar-powered streetlight than curse the insurgency.
Rural electrification using solar energy may find a match made in heaven when linked to drip irrigation.
Solar power's portability has made it a go-to technology for projects out in the boonies, like oil production.
A windswept Danish island shows that solar power needn't be the sole province of sunnier climes.
Sailing from the Atlantic to the Orient across the roof of the world has been the dream of Arctic explorers and world traders for centuries. It saves fuel, too, so what's not to like? Well ...
A cargo ship that generates some of its power from the sun may shine a light on ways to reduce transportation's dirty little secret — the world's oil-powered fleets are hideous global warmers.
Although solar energy is often seen as a technology tied either to spacecraft or terra firma, a new generation of engineers and adventurers is crafting solar-powered aircraft.
A greenhouse-on-the-go first described centuries ago may help fight climate change while improving Third World health.
The co-author of A Golden Thread: 2500 Years of Solar Architecture and Technology takes a look at how white backgrounds — be they snow, concrete or rooftops — might help bend back a little bit of global warming.
Like the advice given to Dustin Hoffman in The Graduate, some people think the future of solar cells lies in plastics. Here's why.
The cheapest solar technology is just situating your home or office in the right direction when it's built. You don't have to be Socrates to understand the concept — but it might help.
Sticking solar concentrators where the sun shines could potentially generate phenomenal amounts of electricity. But the perfect technology doesn't yet exist.
The German experience offers an excellent model for creating a solar cell marketplace.
How the in-space success of the world's first solar cell-powered satellite encouraged their commercialization across the globe.
John Perlin chronicles solar electrical generation from wishful thinking to realized dream.
When people think of solar these days, photovoltaics, or solar cells, pop into their heads. But there is just so much more than merely PV when it comes to solar devices.
