3 ms·

Grass has an albedo of around ~0.2 which means that it converts ~80% of the incident sunlight into heat. Solar panels are pretty black and have efficiencies of

by fsh 3y ago

Grass has an albedo of around ~0.2 which means that it converts ~80% of the incident sunlight into heat. Solar panels are pretty black and have efficiencies of ~20% which means that they convert ~80% of the incident sunlight into heat. The amount of heat produced by your friends' hill did not change due to the solar panels.

eternityforest 3y ago
The grass could be conducting heat to the soil for storage and later emission back to space at night, or evaporative cooling. I'm guessing in general solar is a win for the environment, I'm a big fan of the tech, it's the only way most people can generate power right at home without obnoxious fumes or noise or something.... But I wouldn't be surprised if the temperature did change.
the_third_wave 3y ago
Grass and other vegetation cools itself and with that the surrounding air by evapotranspiration, solar panels do not. Parking lots are warmer than meadows, built-up areas warmer than forested areas. If you're inclined to experimenting and you happen to have (access to) a multimeter with a temperature probe you can test this for yourself. On a sunny day find a spot where you have bare dry dark soil close to vegetation-covered soil. Put the temperature probe (generally a thermocouple) on a stand ca. 2 cm over the bare soil and leave it there for a minute, then read the temperature. Do the same on the vegetation-covered soil and again read the temperature. You'll quickly find that the temperature over the vegetation-less area easily rises to 90°C while that over the vegetation-covered area does not tend to climb much over 40°C. Now add some convection - wind or natural convection - to move that hot air from that soil or from under those panels to a neighbouring area and you'll find that is does have a significant impact.
freitzkriesler2 3y ago
Here's the whole story about it https://signalscv.com/2023/08/solar-panel-dispute-likely-to-continue-into-2024/ https://signalscv.com/2023/08/solar-panel-dispute-likely-to-...

by fsh 3y ago

eternityforest 3y ago

The grass could be conducting heat to the soil for storage and later emission back to space at night, or evaporative cooling. I'm guessing in general solar is a win for the environment, I'm a big fan of the tech, it's the only way most people can generate power right at home without obnoxious fumes or noise or something.... But I wouldn't be surprised if the temperature did change.

the_third_wave 3y ago

Grass and other vegetation cools itself and with that the surrounding air by evapotranspiration, solar panels do not. Parking lots are warmer than meadows, built-up areas warmer than forested areas. If you're inclined to experimenting and you happen to have (access to) a multimeter with a temperature probe you can test this for yourself. On a sunny day find a spot where you have bare dry dark soil close to vegetation-covered soil. Put the temperature probe (generally a thermocouple) on a stand ca. 2 cm over the bare soil and leave it there for a minute, then read the temperature. Do the same on the vegetation-covered soil and again read the temperature. You'll quickly find that the temperature over the vegetation-less area easily rises to 90°C while that over the vegetation-covered area does not tend to climb much over 40°C. Now add some convection - wind or natural convection - to move that hot air from that soil or from under those panels to a neighbouring area and you'll find that is does have a significant impact.

freitzkriesler2 3y ago

Here's the whole story about it https://signalscv.com/2023/08/solar-panel-dispute-likely-to-continue-into-2024/ https://signalscv.com/2023/08/solar-panel-dispute-likely-to-...