Dear Jake,

Right now, Washington state uses water through dams to make most of our electricity. But we’re also working hard on another kind of renewable energy: solar.

I asked my friend Allie Higginbotham about solar panels. She’s a scientist who works with the Energy Program at Washington State University.

She told me that a solar panel is a device that uses the sun to make electricity.

“A solar panel is made of smaller units called photovoltaic cells, or solar cells,” Higginbotham said. “They’re arranged in a grid on a solar panel—like you see on rooftops. A bunch of panels strung together is a … » More …