4 ms·
Over time, will we cover all the roofs of the world with solar panels? I would guess that a solar roof generates enough energy to cool the rooms below it, no m
by mg 3y ago
Over time, will we cover all the roofs of the world with solar panels?
I would guess that a solar roof generates enough energy to cool the rooms below it, no matter how high the temperature rises on the outside. So with climate change continuing and solar roofs becoming more efficient and more affordable, it seems inevitable.
- mtsr 3y agoThat depends. Climate change might very well (seasonally) increase cloud cover, vastly decreasing the power produced.
- nine_zeros 3y agoHypothetical
- singularity2001 3y agoIt is physical fact that each degree of temperature increase means the air can transport 7% more moisture and recent studies confirmed that the change in the last decades perfectly match the theoretical value. price per watt decays similar to moores law. thus cloud cover, latitude etc soon become negligible though
- Ekaros 3y agoNight time temperatures are also thing to consider. Not sure how viable thermal sinks cooled during sun-light hours would be...
- blacksmith_tb 3y agoSounds more difficult to implement than battery storage to keep the heating pumps running at night (given that we already have all that working well).
- spiderxxxx 3y agoPossible, but you're only moving heat. You're locally cooling, but the net effect of AC is more heat. If a lot of that heat can get out of the atmosphere through radiation, then we'll start to cool the planet. Greenhouse gases make that difficult.
- mg 3y agothe net effect of AC is more heat Hmm... I don't think so. Yes, operating a fridge in your kitchen will heat up the kitchen. And yes, if that fridge is powered by burning coal somewhere, then it heats up the planet too. But solar energy is already coming in the form of energy. It is not as if the sun is raining coal down on earth and we decide if we want to burn it or not. I would think the amount of radiation given of by a solar powered AC will equal the amount of radiation it takes in.
- tekla 3y agoYou may want to retake a middle school education on "work" and "thermodynamics"
- didgeoridoo 3y agoBefore you get snide, consider what you are proposing: that 1W of insolation can cause >1W of power to be generated as waste from a solar-powered AC system. It’s pretty clear that this is not the case.
- Eisenstein 3y ago> "thermodynamics" Isn't part of that 'the law of conservation of energy'?
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- e_y_ 3y agoThe basic principle of the greenhouse effect is that light from the sun hits the earth. Some of it is reflected out into space (because the atmosphere mostly lets it, some of it is absorbed and converted into heat. The heat can be radiated as IR but IR tends to get trapped by the atmosphere. Solar panels are all black. So from a very nitpicky perspective, the energy used to power the A/C creates heat that is not radiated in the same way as, say, having a giant mirror on your roof would. The heat is also released locally rather than being aimed at the sky. But from an overall perspective you are correct, because the alternative to solar is just having a regular roof which will convert some of the light into heat without doing any useful work, and because you'd probably get your energy from some less clean source.
- pjc50 3y agoAt reasonable latitudes in secure enough countries? Possibly. A lot depends on balance-of-system: the cost of inverters, electricians, and permitting. Even if the solar panels were no more expensive than regular tiles. But it's a very simple capital investment with a real payback. That then starts making time-of-use metering important, too.