User:Perine F

It might be cliche, but I'll start with the obvious: I've been passionate about sustainability since I was a child. My mother said that I was the one who told her that 'mother nature is fighting back' when I saw the destruction of the dock that humans had created a few years back and that the waves had swallowed whole.

So sustainability has guided most (if not all) of my choices in life. It led me to study a bachelor in Maastricht, the Netherlands (the Maastricht Science Programme) where I studied Biology, but also chemistry, math, entrepreneurship, and pretty much any other course that took my fancy (like philosophy of science, which was one of my favourites). And then my desire for 'saving the world' led me to study a master in Industrial Ecology at TU Delft and Leiden University where I thought I would learn the necessary tools to finally convince the rest of the world that we were running out of time, that we needed to act now. And a few months into my masters, it led me to starting Biosphere Solar with my now husband.

Biosphere Solar has been one of the most wonderful, draining, exhilerating experiences I have ever lived. I haven't had children yet, but I can imagine creating a company probably comes close to it.

We started and are running the company with one clear mission: bringing circular and fair standards to the solar industry and market. Over the past years, over 50 employees, volunteers, thesis students and others have contributed to shaping what Biosphere Solar is now: a company passionate about R&D, open-source, circularity, solar, and at the heart of it all, making the world a better place.

Being a founder has meant I've worn many different hats: I've prototyped, pitched, researched materials and designs and more, applied for grants/funding (way too much experience in that unfortunately), figured out my way through taxes and wages and legal requirements and I guess the list goes on but that gives you an idea.

During the founding of Biosphere, I finished my degree in Industrial Ecology, with a thesis on OSH and the lessons we can learn from the global south on it (in short). I couldn't do it about my company, so I did it about the next closest thing to my heart at the time: figuring out why OS is not the norm when it's so blatantly obvious to me that it's our future.

Today, I'm part of the Biosphere Solar core team and work on legal, financials, partners and customers. I do research on solar, gender-diversity in the solar industry, the famous ESG and its implications for the solar industry and politicians, and due diligence (most notably via ETIP-PV, and the IMVO covenant of the NL). I garden and can't wait to set up an agrivoltaics farm, swim to keep myself clear-headed, and learn Chinese since living in China requires some degree of conversational skills in the language (not to mention that it's an awesome language to learn).

To go back to the beginning:

I started my formal education at Sunrise School, which drastically shaped who I would become by opening my eyes to the potential of creativity, freedom, and 'doing nothing'. I then went on to high school at Sekolah Dyatmika. This might not seem relevant, but it is. I strongly believe our educational systems need a revamping, and I've had the privilege of being educated in environments which are currently a good example of what our future educational systems might look like. They've nurtured in me an openness of mind, flexibility and passion for life. They are the formal groundwork that was laid down to help me in my work in Solar, pioneering circularity, and constantly striving to improve our system(s) and society.

I did my BSc at Maastricht University, under the Maastricht Science Programme where I learnt how to work in a lab, write papers, do 'proper' research, and stay curious. My MSc was Industrial Ecology, a joint programme between Leiden University and TU Delft. Then my formal education ended, and I entered the world of Entrepreneurship (this was actually done alongside my masters for 2 years).

Biosphere Solar - co-founder and steward (see steward ownership for an understanding of what that entails)

Habibiworks - setting up the open-source plastic recycling workspace (re.works) in Ioannina, Greece

Precious Plastic Maastricht - setting up a Precious Plastic hub in Maastricht (open-source plastic recycling machines)

Master Thesis - Exploring Open-Source Hardware as a Global Phenomenon

ETIP-PV ESG working group - member since 2025 advising on circularity and researching gender diversity in solar

ChangemakerXchange - member since 2023, climate group shaped my understanding of how to tackle climate change