Science & technology | Sunny side upPerovskite crystals may represent the future of solar powerTheir efficiency rates far exceed those of conventional silicon panelsPhotograph: Luca Abbiento/Oxford PV Oct 21st 2024|OXFORDIT is commonly claimed, and also true, that enough sunlight falls on Earth in the course of an hour to meet a years worth of global power needs. Some of that sunlight is currently converted into electricity by arrays of solar panels: by the end of 2023, these panels covered almost 10,000 square kilometres of Earths surface, producing some 1,600 terawatt-hours of electricity, about 6% of that generated worldwide.This article appeared in the Science & technology section of the print edition under the headline Sunny side upFrom the October 26th 2024 editionDiscover stories from this section and more in the list of contentsExplore the editionReuse this content