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Article: FROM SPACE TO EARTH.(Review)(Brief Article) (book review)
- Article from:
- Whole Earth
- Article date:
- December 22, 1999
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1999 Point Foundation. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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The Story of Solar Electricity John Perlin. 1999; 224 pp. $32. aatec publications.
John Perlin's delightful historical tour through the development of photovoltaics (PV) answers not only the question of what is new under the sun, but most importantly, how we got here. Perlin charts the evolution of the photovoltaic industry from its beginnings in early industrial semiconductor and materials-science research in the 1950s to the present. In 1955, for instance, the cost of solar cells was over $150 per kilowatt-hour (or, by one estimate, over 1.5 million dollars to electrify a standard suburban house); nonsolar energy cost was 1-2 cents per kilowatt-hour. Solar is ...