China is churning out solar panels—and upsetting sand markets
The hunt for grains with a silica concentration of more than 99.9%
![Sand-digging machinery in the Kuakhai River near Bhubaneswar, India](https://www.economist.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=1424,quality=80,format=auto/content-assets/images/20240316_FNP002.jpg)
Sand is everywhere. Yet only a certain sort can be used to make the ultra-clear glass required for smartphones and solar panels. It must have a silica concentration of more than 99.9%, against less than 80% for construction material. This high-quality sand is scarce: of the 50bn or so tonnes extracted each year, less than 1% can be used to produce regular glass. A tiny fraction of that is pure enough for solar panels.
This article appeared in the Finance & economics section of the print edition under the headline “Life’s a beach”
Finance & economics March 16th 2024
- Is the bull market about to turn into a bubble?
- China’s economic bright spots provide a warning
- China is churning out solar panels—and upsetting sand markets
- Saudi Arabia’s investment fund has been set an impossible task
- The private-equity industry has a cash problem
- Russia’s economy once again defies the doomsayers
- How NIMBYs increase carbon emissions
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