3 ms·
What you suggested is more similar to what Solar Thermal systems do (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_thermal_energy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_ther
by wishawa 5y ago
What you suggested is more similar to what Solar Thermal systems do (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_thermal_energy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_thermal_energy). They are known to be more efficient than solar photovoltaics. They have their own downsides of course.
- diarrhea 5y agoThey are more efficient because converting anything to heat is trivial. Heat is just losses basically. A process consisting of 100% losses is great for heat generation. However, extracting exergy (electricity is pure exergy) from a flow of energy is the tricky part and will always be associated with efficiencies way below unity, based on fundamental principles.