Timeline for Will the heat generated from solar panel electricity eventually generate wind energy?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
4 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 2, 2022 at 6:03 | comment | added | chris | OK, so I think I see what confused me. If the panel is 100% efficient then I can use that energy to do work. If that work is not 100% efficient in storing the energy in some type of potential then waste heat is created. However all is not lost because, if there is no equilibrum with the waste heat, one can use it to do some more work. Basically, if the sun just hits the Earth, it mostly goes to waste heat, but we can be clever and prevent some of that with a solar panel. I guess the problem is I really don't know much about entropy. | |
| May 1, 2022 at 23:23 | comment | added | Mr Anderson | You have it the wrong way round. In this scenario, it is the efficiency of the solar panels that limits the 'downstream' energy able to recovered from the waste heat. Max efficiency is of course 100%. | |
| May 1, 2022 at 16:12 | comment | added | chris | As you can see in my comment, my main point is that this must constrain the efficiency of the solar panels. I'm not claiming that conservation of energy is being violated. I'm claiming that the energy recovered from the waste heat must limit the solar panels. Therefore your hypothetical is impossible. There is no way the panels could be 100%. | |
| May 1, 2022 at 6:49 | history | answered | Mr Anderson | CC BY-SA 4.0 |