If solar panels are 100% efficient, how many watts could they theoretically capture per square foot of land?
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In clear space above the Earth, watts per square meter is about 1400. At ground level, due to the atmosphere, this drops down to around 800 W/m^2 on a clear day. Divide by 10.76 to get the value for a square foot, or roughly 74 Watts per square foot. The source listed below states a value of 1020 W/m^2, or 95 watts per square foot, though I've read 800 elsewhere.
Nothing can capture watts. A watt is a measure of heat energy produced through the use of electricity. Youneed to rethink and refine your question. And you need to do some studying in electricity and/or electronics. However, I assume your wanting to know, theoretically, how much electricity a 100 percent efficient solar energy collector and generator could generate from the most direct and strongest sunlight striking one square foot of its surface. You have asked a very good question and I hope someone else can answer it for you. I can't.
scientists say cover Death Valley and it will power the whole US.BTU's converted to Watts.
Of course, that is assuming 100% efficiency, which is thermodynamically impossible. Even the very best are only a bit over 30% effective. Of course, I still dont' have a problem with covering the state of Nevada in solar cells :D
First, the units you are looking for are Watt-hours or more commonly kWh, which is what you see on your electric bill.
It's different for every location as solar insolation varies with latitude, seasons and weather patterns. You can look up the available energy over an average year for your location on the National Solar Radiation Database here:
http://rredc.nrel.gov/solar/old_data/nsr... The parent site also has hourly data if you really want it.
You can also find approximated values for anywhere in the world here:
http://eosweb.larc.nasa.gov/sse/...
Tracking also makes a big difference regardless of collector efficiency, as the data will show.
Also remember that there are more efficient ways to make electricity from sunlight than photovoltaics, such as concentrating solar thermal and Stirling dish systems
1 kilowatt per square meter.
The best solar electric panels only absorb a little over 16 percent. Solar heat does better.
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