Making Cheaper Solar Energy

The sun supplies our planet with enough energy each day to power humanity’s electricity demands for an entire year, but harnessing this energy is expensive, especially compared to electricity produced by burning coal and natural gas. The Department of Energy wants to bring the price of solar power down to one dollar per watt over the next six years—a ten-fold decrease through its investment initiative called SunShot. “As part of the new SunShot initiative, DoE committed some $27 million to fund novel methods for producing solar cells and their components.”