I think the difference is that you’re conflating heat and light. Solar panels use photons to create electricity, not converting infrared heat to energy. So the heating really isn’t a factor in the energy created.
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moseschrute@lemmy.world 2 weeks agoFor point 3, I assumed solar doesn’t get hot since it turns the light into electricity. Due to the conservation of energy and mass, it must reduce some of the heat by turning it into electricity, right?
RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
brucethemoose@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
This is true to an extent, but the raw conversion efficiency is not that high:
www.nrel.gov/pv/interactive-cell-efficiency
At best, you’re looking at 30% for the most expensive experimental cells, minus other efficiency losses like dust or transportation.
…In practice, deployed panels will be less efficient than that. And I think that number excludes includes radiation frequencies outside the panel’s absorption range, yet hitting the panels anyway.
What I’m getting at is the sheer ‘darkness’ of the panels blows out the effect of converting a fraction of that radiation to electricity. The effect is still much more heat absorbed on the surface than light sand.