solar panel, definition of

Air pollution occurs when the air contains gases, dust, fumes or odour in harmful amounts. That is, amounts which could be harmful to the health or comfort of humans and animals or which could cause damage to plants and materials.

The substances that cause air pollution are called pollutants. Pollutants that are pumped into our atmosphere and directly pollute the air are called primary pollutants. Primary pollutant examples include carbon monoxide from car exhausts and sulfur dioxide from the combustion of coal.

Further pollution can arise if primary pollutants in the atmosphere undergo chemical reactions. The resulting compounds are called secondary pollutants. Photochemical smog is an example of this.

• Cheap Solar Panels - do they exist?
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• Solar Wiring Size Calculator
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• Did you know these surprising solar panel facts?
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Related Tags: solar, energy

Solar Panel Efficiency is a percentage measure of how Solar Energy from the Sun hitting a solar panel is ideally converted into useful electrical power. This is often given assuming perfect conditions; i.e. no shade, maximum sun and cool. In practice the actual rate of conversion can be somewhat different due to:

• Shading - even partial shading can have a dramatic effect on the energy produced.
• Heat - the hotter a solar panel becomes the less efficient it is at converting solar energy into electrical energy.
• Sun Strength - akin to shading, but if the Sun is behind clouds or low in the sky you will get dramatically less power.
  

• SunPower nabs record for world's most efficient rooftop solar panel
  Solar panel efficiency is the holy grail of the solar power world, and SunPower just propelled the industry further with the "most efficient rooftop solar panel" in the world...
• With a special glass coating, these solar panels can capture sunlight from almost any angle
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• New Software Allows Developers to Create Super Efficient Solar Parks
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• Study Discovers That Solar Panels Have a Cooling Effect on Buildings
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• Off-the-Shelf Dyes Increase Solar Panel Absorption
  The hippies were the first to push solar energy en masse in the 70’s, so it’s a wonder we haven’t thought of this before — it turns out the same stuff used to tie-dye t-shirts can increase the efficiency of solar panels...

Related Tags: solar power, solar energy, energy efficiency, renewable energy, solar cells, green energy, solar panels