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Listen Up: Let’s Talk Solar Chips and How They Can Reduce Costs, Improve Efficiency

Solar modules started out as fairly simple moisture-proof sandwiches of glass, silicon cells, glue and backsheets — with a junction box that contains a few diodes to bypass defective or shaded cells. No fancy electronics in the early days. Then power electronics circuitry crept into early inverters — to the point now where all inverters contain hundreds of electronics chips to provide various optimization, communications and safety functions. Now that many installations use microinverters or optimizers, every single solar panel has its own collection of electronics chips.

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Net-Zero Neighborhoods Gaining Traction

The largest net-zero neighborhood in North America will be constructed more than a mile above sea level. All 308 houses in the Geos Neighborhood in Arvada, Colo. will harness sunlight and the earth’s core to generate as much energy as the homes consume. But before the solar and geothermal technology comes into play, the design of these cottages and

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