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But if the sunlight that produced that power had hit something else instead, it also would have been turned into heat. There's no net heating of the planet fro
by ScottBurson 4y ago
But if the sunlight that produced that power had hit something else instead, it also would have been turned into heat. There's no net heating of the planet from solar power. (Of course, the distribution of heating can change.)
- dhc02 4y agoYes, and when electricity is used to do work, the vast, overwhelming majority of the energy used is turned into heat. So solar panels are moving heat, not sending it into a black hole somewhere.
- ScottBurson 4y agoThat was my point.
- rootusrootus 4y agoRecall that PV panels are black. They get quite hot, almost certainly hotter than plain dirt would if uncovered. Plenty hot enough that you can't touch them for more than a moment.
- 8note 4y agoFor reference, that's somewhere just above 50°C
- 41b696ef1113 4y agoI am not sure that is correct. It is possible that solar panels absorb more total energy and keep it locally than would otherwise be reflected back into space via radiative cooling.
- thereisnospork 4y agoPossibly, although it would behoove solar panels to have a high albedo along the non-electrically producing wavelengths. Lower panel temperatures mean higher efficiency, but the effort might not be worth the marginal improvement.