Mar
09
Will Solar Power reduce the temperature outside?
ByIf everyone had solar power houses, would that make it colder outside (by a little bit) because it is using the energy for electricity?
If everyone had solar power houses, would that make it colder outside (by a little bit) because it is using the energy for electricity?
4 Comments
March 9th, 2010 at 10:56 pm
No
March 9th, 2010 at 11:20 pm
no it is just a renewable or carbondioxide free energy
March 9th, 2010 at 11:50 pm
That’s actually a really interesting question. The answer is no, and I’ll explain why. Energy travels from the Earth to the Sun. When it reaches the Earth, a variety of things happen to it. Some is reflected back, some is absorbed by the atmosphere, and some is absorbed by the Earth itself and things on the ground. That’s a bit of an oversimplification, but let’s just focus on the energy that is absorbed by stuff on the surface of the Earth.
A certain amount of the Sun’s energy is absorbed by people’s houses every day. If those houses don’t have solar panels on them, then nothing really happens to that energy. It just heats up their shingles and things. A small amount might reflect off of roofs, but that has a negligible effect on the Earth’s temperature. So, now let’s suppose that those same houses had solar panels on them. The same amount of energy is still hitting the houses and being absorbed by them, but instead of just being wasted, it’s now being used for things. The overall effect on the climate, though doesn’t change.
Once again, very interesting question.
March 10th, 2010 at 12:31 am
Everyone?
Yes, I think that would slightly reduce the termperature outside, if it meant that we burn less fossil fuel to make electricity. Not only would we be puttling less heat into the atmosphere from the direct combustion, we would be adding less carbon dioxide.