Long-time Shred Hood editor Ben Jacklet’s new book, Follow the Sun: Around the World In Search of Solar Solutions, is live and published, available globally through Amazon.
Jacklet, who wrote hundreds of articles for Shred Hood between 2013 and 2016, returned to school to earn his Sustainability and MBA degrees from Portland State in 2016 and moved into the solar industry after graduating in 2018. He now works as a solar consultant for Elemental Energy in Portland, specializing in rooftop solar and clean energy storage.
Jacklet traveled around the world during a sabbatical year with his wife Christina from September of 2023 to August of 2024, visiting 15 countries in all and interviewing 50 solar experts in 10 countries. His book documents the rise of solar energy as the most affordable source of new electricity on the planet, profiling a diverse cast of entrepreneurs and scientists in Chile, Costa Rica, Australia, India, Italy, and Spain, among other places.
The book combines the science of the sun and of light, analysis of the key factors behind solar’s global surge, and lively travel stories from Cabo Pulmo to Ranthambore, illustrated with sharp black and white photographs shot by Jacklet and his wife, Christina Nicolaidis.
That’s a cockatoo in the photo above, one of 643 new species identified by the author over the course of his travels.
For all the fear of a failing planet, Jacklet did return from his solar journey with some positive news. The world is installing more than a gigawatt per day of solar, and while the U.S. is now officially lagging behind on the global clean energy transition, many other nations are picking up the slack, reaping environmental and economic benefits.
Follow the Sun: Around the World in Search of Solar Solutions has earned early praise from readers including Bill McKibben, who wrote:
If you want a sense of how solar is developing around the world—the people, places, and ideas behind the greatest energy surge in human history—this well-traveled account is a good place to start. Americans in particular need to read this, because most of the action is overseas; we owe the author a debt for tracking down the fascinating stories happening in so many places.
Last modified: December 23, 2025
