Photosynthesis More Efficiency Than Solar Panels

Factors that affect solar panel efficiency.

Photosynthesis more efficiency than solar panels.

The average efficiency of solar panels falls between the 17 to 19 percent efficiency range. According to the wikipedia page on photosynthetic efficiency typical plants have a radiant energy to chemical energy conversion efficiency between 0 1 and 2. Where c 6 h 12 o 6 is glucose which is subsequently transformed into other sugars cellulose lignin and so forth. The photosynthetic efficiency is the fraction of light energy converted into chemical energy during photosynthesis in green plants and algae.

Photosynthesis is less efficient than solar panels. More efficient energy photosynthesis quantum cells the dilemma is if it is possible or not to design efficient solar cells that can harness the sun s energy as efficiently as plants do. Most commercially available solar panels have more than 10 times this efficiency. Photosynthesis conducted by algae turns roughly 3 percent of incoming sunlight into organic compounds including yet more plant cells annually.

All biofuels today rely on photosynthesis but it turns out this is not very efficient and only about one percent of the solar energy is captured by the plant and stored as chemical energy that can be converted to a fuel molecule. Photosynthesis can be described by the simplified chemical reaction 6 h 2 o 6 co 2 energy c 6 h 12 o 6 6 o 2. Solar panels have been consistently increasing in efficiency at about 5 annually since 2010. Currently solar cells are 20 percent efficient at utilizing the sun s energy resulting in a lot of wasted energy.

According to the wikipedia page on photosynthetic efficiency typical plants have a radiant energy to chemical energy conversion efficiency between 0 1 and 2. It seems likely that people will continue to want liquid and solid fuels that can be burned whereas solar panels can only provide us with electricity. This is a big difference because if photosynthesis makes a mistake it makes toxic byproducts that kill the organism. Plants are less efficient at capturing the energy in sunlight than solar cells mostly because they have too much evolutionary baggage.

While solar panels are straining at the theoretical limits of their efficiency seeking to break free there s still a place for artificial photosynthesis which was for a long time a forgotten cousin. Photosynthesis is less efficient than solar panels. The highest efficiency solar panels on the market today can reach almost 23 percent efficiency. Plants have to power a living thing whereas solar cells only have to send electricity down a wire.