John Perlin < Back to Writers
John Perlin is the author of From Space to Earth: The Story of Solar Electricity,A Golden Thread: 2500 Years of Solar Architecture and Technology (with Ken Butti), and A Forest Journey: The Role of Wood in the Development of Civilization. He worked with Nobel laureates Walter Kohn and Alan Heeger in the 2005 film The Power of the Sun. He can be contacted at johnperlin@physics.ucsb.edu.
Also by this Author
Making Solar Cells Cheaper — It Could Be Plastics
Like the advice given to Dustin Hoffman in The Graduate, some people think the future of solar cells lies in plastics. Here’s why.
Solar Building a Wise, and Ancient, Philosophy
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.
Did Archimedes Solve Our Energy Crisis?
Sticking solar concentrators where the sun shines could potentially generate phenomenal amounts of electricity. But the perfect technology doesn’t yet exist.
Electrifying the Developed World
In the final part of our series on photovoltaics, John Perlin explains how the German experience offers an excellent model for creating a solar cell marketplace.
Solar Cells From Space to Earth
In the second part of our series on photovoltaics, John Perlin looks at how the in-space success of the world’s first solar cell-powered satellite encouraged their commercialization across the globe.