About John Perlin

In September, Dan Arvizu, who heads the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory, made a prescient prediction during a European solar energy conference. He said the meteoric growth of photovoltaic installations over the last six years would cause fossil fuel and nuclear interests to demonize solar cells in hope of killing what they might see as a powerful threat. Days later, Washington politicians started ramping up an investigation into Solyndra, a leading maker of thin-film solar cells that had gone bankrupt two years after receiving a $535 million loan guarantee from the U.S. ... Read More

The European Union's Joint Research Centre reports that photovoltaic modules installed globally in 2009 had a capacity to generate more than 7 gigawatts of electricity — the equivalent of about seven nuclear power plants. Out of these, almost 6 gigawatts were installed in Europe. This means that 75 percent of the world's photovoltaic systems went up in Europe alone during last year. The cumulative installed PV capacity in the world comes to 22 gigawatts, with 70 percent being European. The United States, though enjoying far more sunshine and being the birthplace of modern photovoltaics, ... Read More