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Interestingly, today's NASA Earth Observatory image of the day is "Smog Smothers Solar Energy in China" https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=92054
by tombrossman 8y ago
Interestingly, today's NASA Earth Observatory image of the day is "Smog Smothers Solar Energy in China" https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=92054 https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=92054
A quote from the article: "The researchers found that in the most polluted areas, available solar energy decreased as much as 35 percent, or 1.5 kilowatt-hours per square meter per day. That is enough energy to power a vacuum cleaner for one hour, wash twelve pounds of laundry, or run a laptop for five to 10 hours."
- seanmcdirmid 8y agoEastern China is not that great for solar anyways even without the smog: it would at least be foggy and cloudy even if the air was clean. Looking at the picture and reading the article, that capacity is mostly being installed out in western China where pollution (and densities) are much less of a problem. On the other hand, without super grid support, it isn’t going to help much in solving the east’s problems.
- gascan 8y agoIn some sense, it's enviable to be in a position where bringing more solar power online will increase the production of your existing solar! (by eventually reducing coal emissions and thus pollution)
- agumonkey 8y agoGood point. Betting against your own failures is worth doing when you're fixing them.
- volgo 8y agoLove the salty comments on HN everytime China does something great. "Well actualllllly"