An on-air interview with Doug Cress of PDX Earth

Doug Cress invited me onto his radio show PDX Earth June 24 for a live interview on Portland’s college radio station, and I enjoyed our talk immensely. Doug is a seasoned journalist who worked for major dailies including the Washington Post and the Atlanta Journal Constitution before shifting into environmental conservation and most most recently blending journalism with pro-planet advocacy on his radio show. He’s a knowledgeable host and an excellent interviewer, and I recommend his KPSU show highly. You can listen to our episode here; our interview runs from 10:30 to 27:12. It was clear from the first question that Doug had read my book carefully, and I appreciate that.

A positive review and a lively conversation in the Portland Business Journal

Pete Danko of the Portland Business Journal wrote an excellent article on May 29 about my work in the solar industry and the publication of Follow the Sun. “Before Jacklet joined the Church of Solar, he was a journalist, and a good one,” Danko writes, “putting to use boundless curiosity and an engaging style at several publications in the region… So the technical stuff comes at you gently and cleverly. And you get insights and tidbits about the land and the people that he and Christina encountered.”

I enjoyed our far-ranging conversation thoroughly, and Pete did a fine job of editing it down to size. You can read the full article here.

Sunny News from India, Spain, and Portland

I was pleased to receive some encouraging dispatches from Mumbai, India and Jaén, Spain this spring, with words of praise from key interview subjects for Follow the Sun.

Professor Juzer Vasi of the Indian institute of Technology-Bombay called the book “a wonderful read” and vowed to recommend it to his colleagues at an upcoming celebration of 50 years of solar energy production in India – “that’s right, it started back in 1976!” India blew past the United States in new solar installations for the first time in 2025 with 55.9 gigawatts, trailing only China and the European Union.

Writing from Jaén, the brilliant Spanish solar physicist and inventor Eduardo Fernandez informed me that he and his colleagues are “honored to be included in the book.” Fernandez praised the book for profiling the people behind the science and vowed, “If you start another initiative, you can count on us.” Fernandez and his colleagues are working with local farmers to combine olive farming with photovoltaics in the Mediterranean region. They’re also digging deep into a futuristic, yet entirely plausible plan to use lasers to beam solar energy from space to Earth.

Meanwhile, here in Portland, I finally got my own rooftop solar system up and running, thanks to my hard-working colleagues at Elemental Energy: 20 460-watt REC Alpha Pure solar panels paired with Enphase IQ8X microinverters. It took some extra work to complete the job on this 115-year-old home: a new roof, one less Portland tree (don’t worry, we are replanting), and a tricky structural upgrade. I couldn’t be happier with the results. We’re producing twice as much electricity as we use as the solstice approaches, running our home and my beloved Kia EV 6 on sunlight. I have to admit that I am one smug bastard when I sail past the gas station without pausing. A world running on clean energy is not a futuristic fantasy; it is a present-day reality. If we make it happen.

A Lively Piece from Writer, Editor, and Good Friend Jon Bell

I’ve known Jon Bell for a long time, and we have shared some spectacular adventures together exploring places like Broken Top, Mount Adams, and Mt. St. Helens. Jon is also a talented writer and editor, author of a terrific book about our home mountain titled On Mount Hood and a key early reader and editor of Follow the Sun. His Feb. 15 profile of me and my new book is a lively read, packed with gorgeous photos from our various adventures and misadventures together.

A Profile from Portland State University

Portland State University has published an in-depth profile of MBA alumnus and Follow the Sun author Ben Jacklet, focusing on his experience returning to school at age 50 to and his subsequent mid-career transition into renewable energy. The article describes Follow the Sun: Around the World in Search of Solar Solutions as “a book that needed to be written.” You can read the profile, titled “More than a Career Pivot,” here.

Positive press from Elemental Energy

Portland-based Elemental Energy recently introduced readers and solar clients to Ben Jacklet with a profile that emphasizes his work in the solar industry and his newly published book, Follow the Sun: Around the World in Search of Solar Solutions. Jacklet started working at Elemental Energy in May of 2025, not long after returning from the round-the-world journey that provided the material for Follow the Sun. You can read the article here.