Well, it looks like solar panels aren’t going to be saving the planet any time soon.

In fact, some aren’t even able to work efficiently when the sun is too hot, which defeats the purpose of solar energy.

We know this because reports indicate the record heatwave tormenting the United Kingdom has effectively rendered solar panels there useless. (Same thing happens with wind turbines w.r.t. wind speed! Making both utterly useless when most needed.)

Tim adds:

There is another way to use solar energy for electricity, one that would actually work better on hot days.

It's called a Stirling Engine. The engine works by having hot and cold sinks and the differential between the two drive a piston as a working fluid - be it oil, or gas, or plain old air, is transferred back and forth between the hot and cold sides. These aren't great engines for mechanical work; they lack sufficient torque. But they provide a constant power that can be turned into electricity.

Using mirrors to heat the hot sink and perhaps cooling the other side via evaporation of water you can generate power.

There was a lot of work going on with these in prior years but it was largely given up on when solar cells became more efficient. But solar cells are expensive to make, require a very dirty mining process, and you have to buy rare earth metals from overseas. A Stirling solar generator is much cheaper and cleaner.

That said, I doubt they will replace standard power sources any more than will solar cells.

1 Not to mention that solar cells have to be kept clean to work properly. Which involves labor. And the darn things wear out quickly, too.

2 Agreed Dana. I have some friends on Facebook who live off-grid and use them. Lyle Hancock says he has to replace the cells in his batteries every few weeks (or he'd have to replace the very expensive batteries.) He lives in the desert near the Grand Canyon, and dust collects on the panels in summer. In winter they get snow and again he has to go out and wipe the panels off. It sounds like a huge pain.

But he couldn't get power to the property. He had to do it.

He also has to go to buy water; takes an enormous tank on his truck and fills it every so often. A well would have to be deeper than the bit ditch he lives by otherwise.

3 Sounds like Lyle is caught between a rock and a hard place! At least, I don't think he has to work hard to generate heat in the "winter."

Although maybe he does. Back in 1999, Martha was stuck working in Scottsdale, Arizona, and I went to visit her on a day when there was supposed to be a huge golf tournament in Phoenix -- and it was snowed out. This was around Easter.

4 He tells me it gets pretty cold in winter, and he gets a lot of snow, often well into the spring. He uses wood stoves for heating. Not sure where he gets his wood from though; the Grand Canyon area doesn't have much in the way of trees from what I've seen.

Lyle is one of the climate scientists I'm friendly with on Facebook. He's retired now. He likes doing astronomy out in the middle of nowhere. I think he also is hedging his bets in case the shit hits the fan. He says he has plenty of groceries going by outside.

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