Unleashing Solar Energy: The Potential of Mirrored Circles and Solar Panels

[entjan]

TL;DR

The theory of circling solar panels in a Circle with mirrors in order to indefinitely reflect the solar energy while at the same time absorbing it through solar panels, Possible?

Now before i take a ton of beating I'm not a Physicist this thread was a google command away looking for a physicists. I am an entrepreneur from the Blockchain world and before that the IT world. Now with the Current World Economic Forum, green bonds and saving our planet conversations i would be interested in hearing 1 or possibly a few things from physicists.

While solar panels is a great invention it is really staggeringly uneconomic to use the output is simply to low for it to be a viable option.
Now for one of those kids that burned ants or at least imagined doing it as a kid i was thinking of the situation of placing mirrors in a perfect circle with solar panel films or the other way around a solar panel with a mirror film in a perfect circle.

Can I have the sandwich and eat it at the same time?
Would it be possible to harness the power of the sun while at the same time bouncing it indefinitely inside a circle or mirrors?

 

[anorlunda]

While solar panels is a great invention it is really staggeringly uneconomic to use the output is simply to low for it to be a viable option.

Are you sure of that? Our custom here is to cite a science or engineering source for an assertion of fact,

Try this thread.
https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/almost-plausible-solar-takeover-plan.989072/

 

[Ibix]

Would it be possible to harness the power of the sun while at the same time bouncing it indefinitely inside a circle or mirrors?

No. The energy that's absorbed is not available to be reflected.

 

[entjan]

No. The energy that's absorbed is not available to be reflected.

Not even through using a repeater as in Fibre optics?

 

[Ibix]

Not even through using a repeater as in Fibre optics?

A repeater requires energy input - more than the light it produces.

You cannot do what you want for the reason you've already identified. You cannot have your sandwich and also eat it.

 

[berkeman]

Summary:: The theory of circling solar panels in a Circle with mirrors in order to indefinitely reflect the solar energy while at the same time absorbing it through solar panels, Possible?

i was thinking of the situation of placing mirrors in a perfect circle with solar panel films or the other way around a solar panel with a mirror film in a perfect circle.

One technique that is used to increase the solar conversion efficiency of some types of solar cells is to use a Back Reflector to send light that makes it through the cell back into the cell. See for example:

https://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijp/2016/7390974/

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1876610211019874

 

[DaveC426913]

Are we going to talk about what this terrestrial oven contraption would do to Earth's temperature and the sustainability of life?

I guess, by the time all the animals and plants are dead and dessicated, we'll be able to consume sunlight directly through our skin.

 

[256bits]

Summary:: The theory of circling solar panels in a Circle with mirrors in order to indefinitely reflect the solar energy while at the same time absorbing it through solar panels, Possible?

entrepreneur from the Blockchain world ... with the Current World Economic Forum, green bonds and saving our planet conversations

Blockchain uses hoards of electricity to mine - not sure if one can label that technology as being as green as one would like to think.

https://financialpost.com/technolog...rency mining,of electricity from Hydro-Québec.
According to the CER, Quebec received requests for about nine gigawatts of energy from cryptocurrency miners in 2018, representing an astonishing 24 per cent of Hydro-Québec’s total generating capacity.

Bitcoin is the most widespread cryptocurrency and according to the CER its mining consumes an estimated 71.12 terrawatt-hours per year globally — equal to 11 per cent of the electricity generated in Canada in 2016. The CER says an average Bitcoin transaction uses more electricity than a Canadian home does in a month.

In 2020, the cryptocurrency mining companies in Quebec consumed 0.6 terrawatt-hours of electricity from Hydro-Québec. When electricity from municipal networks is added, the consumption in 2020 was 1.2 terrawatt-hours, enough to power 70,000 residences in Quebec. In other words, those cryptocurrency mining companies consumed enough electricity to power all the homes in a fair-sized city.