3 ms·
What do solar panels have to do with it? What color are solar panels? Do they produce less heat island effect than "blacktop"?
by avalys 3y ago
What do solar panels have to do with it? What color are solar panels? Do they produce less heat island effect than "blacktop"?
- wlesieutre 3y agoThey don’t reflect a lot of light which ordinarily means a material is absorbing all the energy and turning it to heat, but in the case of solar panels you’re turning maybe 20% of it into electricity instead
- mirashii 3y agoSolar panels have an albedo of ~0.3. Asphalt around ~0.05. That makes it 6x better in terms of heat reflected.
- klyrs 3y agohttps://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albedo#Terrestrial_albedo https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albedo#Terrestrial_albedo Your figure for asphalt seems off. I think the more pertinent comparison would be between solar cells and undisurbed land, which have similar albedo. But thermal mass is probably even more important: ground beneath solar panels receive less thermal radiation than unshaded ground, and while solar cells get hot during the day they cool down quickly at night. Simplifying greatly, they should re-emit about half of the heat they capture to the sky, and half to the ground.
- midoridensha 3y ago>I think the more pertinent comparison would be between solar cells and undisurbed land, which have similar albedo. No, that's a terrible comparison. We're talking about Phoenix here: the whole place is basically covered in asphalt, either roads or parking lots. There's no "undisturbed land" there at all.
- pvaldes 3y agoThey can be used to power a fridge