Efficiency Photosynthesis Vs Solar Panels

Solar energy conversion efficiency by even the most productive plant communities is less than 5 while photovoltaic cells in solar panels may approach 20.

Efficiency photosynthesis vs solar panels. In fact right now there are some solar panels that have an efficiency level of above 20 which is uncommon since the majority of panels range from 15 to 17 efficiency rating. Factors that affect solar panel efficiency. Energy conversion efficiency of photosynthesis. The average efficiency of solar panels falls between the 17 to 19 percent efficiency range.

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. Plants are less efficient at capturing the energy in sunlight than solar cells mostly because they have too much evolutionary baggage. While photosynthesis is a plant based chemical process solar cells or photovoltaic cells are man made and convert solar energy into electricity. According to the wikipedia page on photosynthetic efficiency typical plants have a radiant energy to chemical energy conversion efficiency between 0 1 and 2.

Photosynthesis is less efficient than solar panels. Plants have to power a living thing whereas solar cells only have to send electricity down a wire. This is a big difference because if photosynthesis makes a mistake it makes toxic byproducts that kill the. The highest efficiency solar panels on the market today can reach almost 23 percent efficiency.

Most commercially available solar panels have more than 10 times this efficiency. Which are better to capture solar energy. Determining the relative efficiency of photosynthesis and photovoltaics is not a simple problem by david biello on may 12 2011. Photosynthesis is now used extensively.

Solar panel efficiency is a measure of the amount of solar energy irradiation which falls on a panel surface and is converted into electricity due to the many recent advances in solar cell technology over the last 5 years average panel conversion efficiency has increased from 15 to 20. Solar panels have been consistently increasing in efficiency at about 5 annually since 2010.