You might take an interest in solar panels, especially because energy from the sun is good, and it’s a pretty dope industry. But you might be wondering how the technology and economics work. Did you ever think that solar panels were possible do due to freeing electrons from the sand around our feet?
95% of solar, or photovoltaic cells, are just little squares made from the element silicon.¹ A lot of these squares are placed beside each other to make panels. Silicon is made from silica, which makes up a large majority of the earth’s crust. It’s basically…
