Smaller, cheaper, faster: Does Moore's law apply to solar cells? By Ramez Naam | Mar 16, 2011 09:00 AM | 24 Share Email Print The sun strikes every square meter of our planet with more than 1,360 watts of power. Half of that energy is absorbed by the atmosphere or reflected back into space. 700 watts of power, on average, reaches Earth’s surface. Summed across the half of the Earth that the sun is