How much energy is there in sunlight?
It's interesting to calculate (or measure) the amount
of energy in sunlight - and to work out how much energy
one might get.
Let's think about photovoltaic panels. These
are the ones which you see at the side of the road near
speed cameras and other traffic-controlling devices.
The price of these has come down quite a lot
in the last 20 years but the efficiency is more or less
the same - 10% and you're doing well.
Right- let's take a square metre of ground.
These are the approximate figures I use for solar panel
calculations; they refer to midday:
1000 Watts - Death Valley, or African desert on a hot day
600 watts - hottest day you'll ever get in the UK
500 watts - hot summer day
200 watts - hot summer day with light cloud cover
100 watts - sunny, clear day in December
50 watts - overcast day in December
Divide the figures by 10 and you'll get a slight over-
estimate of the power from your metre-square photovoltaic panel.
It's a sobering thought that most solar panels are net consumers
of energy. A panel which generates as much energy (over its lifetime)
as it took to make it in the first place is doing well.
