Short answers, pulled from the story.
Charles Fritts installed the world's first rooftop photovoltaic solar array on a New York City roof in 1884. This early device used selenium cells that converted just 1% of incident light into electricity.
Scientists Gerald Pearson, Calvin Fuller and Daryl Chapin created the silicon solar cell in 1954 at Bell Labs. These early solar cells cost US$286 per watt and reached efficiencies between 4.5% and 6%.
Over 40% of global polysilicon manufacturing capacity sits within Xinjiang province in China. This concentration raises concerns about human rights violations linked to internment camps in that region.
Obtaining 25% to 80% of electricity from solar farms by 2050 would require covering land ranging from 0.5% to 2.8% of the European Union territory. Some countries like South Korea and Japan use land for agriculture underneath photovoltaic arrays.
Global solar generation capacity exceeded one terawatt for the first time in 2022. Over 90% of the current market relies on crystalline silicon technology for generating electricity from sunlight.