Harnessing the motherlode of the sun’s power is almost within our reach. The sun, our primary source of energy, bathes our Blue Planet in more solar energy than we can ever hope to reasonably use. Each hour, the sun sends 430 quintillion Joules of energy our way, more than the 410 quintillion Joules that humans consume in a whole year. With the sun likely to be around for another five billion years or so, we have a virtually unlimited source of energy–if only we could tap it efficiently. Unfortunately, we are currently only able to harness a minuscule amount of this energy due to technical limitations. But that could be about change, thanks to advances in one wonder-crystal–perovskite. The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has forged a public-private consortium dubbed the US-MAP for US Manufacturing of Advanced Perovskites Consortium , that aims to fast […]