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But there's another consideration: albedo (reflectance of the earth's surface). If the warehouse roofs already tend to be dark-colored, solar panels wouldn't re
by ShadowBanThis01 3y ago
But there's another consideration: albedo (reflectance of the earth's surface). If the warehouse roofs already tend to be dark-colored, solar panels wouldn't reduce the area's albedo as much as covering light-colored ground (like sand).
I saw an assertion somewhere that if we put enough solar panels in the desert to meet all of our energy needs, the net decrease in the earth's albedo would cause as much warming as the burning of equivalent fossil fuels.
A search brings up this article (not necessarily the one I'm remembering, but interesting): https://theconversation.com/solar-panels-in-sahara-could-boost-renewable-energy-but-damage-the-global-climate-heres-why-153992 https://theconversation.com/solar-panels-in-sahara-could-boo...
- walrus01 3y agoModern warehouse roofs like a home depot or something are mostly all white or light colored to reduce air conditioning costs.
- LgWoodenBadger 3y agoI guess because that's cheap enough, because I can only recall ever seeing one big-box type of store (HD, Target, Walmart, Supermarket, etc.) where the corrugated roof was insulated in any way whatsoever.
- maxk42 3y agoThe sands here are black, my friend.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- Retric 3y agoSolar panel albedo isn’t as bad as it first appears because they’re converting significant energy into electricity. In terms of local heat a panel that reflects 10% of the suns energy and coverts 22% into electricity is similar to a surface that reflects 32% of the suns energy. The net effect means solar panels end up roughly similar to grasslands and between typical bare soil and desert sand or in terms of effective albedo.
- friend_and_foe 3y agoYeah but that energy as electricity produces work... which produces waste heat. You end up with the same amount of heat as you do an equally black surface just getting hot. There's no escaping it, but fortunately all that heat gets radiated into space already on the dark side keeping the heat capture at net neutral, once the thermal reserve increases from decreased albedo of course.
- Retric 3y ago“In terms of >local heat<“ That electricity isn’t producing heat where the panels are, it’s potentially in some laptop on the other side of the planet. The actual energy released by the worlds electricity converted into waste heat isn’t currently meaningful on a global scale. But, assuming it keeps increasing placing floating solar panels over the ocean actually reflects more energy back into space. That would have a net cooling effect even including the electricity produced.
- friend_and_foe 3y agoBut the living creatures in the ocean need the light, cyanobacteria and phytoplankton are keystone species for the main oceanic biome. We were talking about paneling unused dark patches on land.