Of note:
At 1.9 W/g (1.2 horsepower/pound), they're more power dense than most combustion engines!
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Earth's solar resource is 173,000 TW. Capturing just 1% of that would 100x humanity's energy supply.
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Similarly, solar's true potential is not unlocked manufacturing solar panels with fossil fuels.
It's unlocked manufacturing solar - with solar.
Fossil fuels are a step in the boot sequence - as human labor and wood were for coal. They are neither necessary nor optimal for large scale manufacturing.
The materials for solar panels are ubiquitous. Silicon makes up 28% of Earth's crust. Solar really gets cheap when we minimize energy and logistics costs. That means producing panels with solar energy, where solar is strongest & installing them locally.
