Are environmentalists causing global warming?

[Remodeling Maidiac]

Sure looks like it.

"While the black surfaces of solar panels absorb most of the sunlight that reaches them, only a fraction (around 15%) of that incoming energy gets converted to electricity. The rest is returned to the environment as heat."

Solar panels in Sahara could boost renewable energy but damage the global climate – here’s why

The world’s most forbidding deserts could be the best places on Earth for harvesting solar power – the most abundant and clean source of energy we have. Deserts are spacious, relatively flat, rich in silicon – the raw material for the semiconductors from which solar cells are made — and never short of sunlight. In fact, the ten largest solar plants around the world are all located in deserts or dry regions.

Researchers imagine it might be possible to transform the world’s largest desert, the Sahara, into a giant solar farm, capable of meeting four times the world’s current energy demand. Blueprints have been drawn up for projects in Tunisia and Morocco that would supply electricity for millions of households in Europe.

Solar panels in Sahara could boost renewable energy but damage the global climate – here's why (theconversation.com)

There is nothing wrong with solar energy outside of the prohibitive cost and substantial inefficiency.

So no, it's no more a contribution to our climate than your average car.

 

[ding]

"While the black surfaces of solar panels absorb most of the sunlight that reaches them, only a fraction (around 15%) of that incoming energy gets converted to electricity. The rest is returned to the environment as heat."

And where would the heat have gone otherwise?
Did you even think about this before you posted in red? ... less heat enters the environment if some of the energy is converted in to electricity ... simple conservation ...

Dude, it's really nice to hear you admit that less heat enters the environment if some of the energy is converted into electricity.

So... would the widespread use of solar panels - let's say enough solar panels to power EVs the equivalent of 80 million barrels of oil per day - have a cooling effect on the planet?

 

[DigitalDrifter]

Sure looks like it.

"While the black surfaces of solar panels absorb most of the sunlight that reaches them, only a fraction (around 15%) of that incoming energy gets converted to electricity. The rest is returned to the environment as heat."

Solar panels in Sahara could boost renewable energy but damage the global climate – here’s why

The world’s most forbidding deserts could be the best places on Earth for harvesting solar power – the most abundant and clean source of energy we have. Deserts are spacious, relatively flat, rich in silicon – the raw material for the semiconductors from which solar cells are made — and never short of sunlight. In fact, the ten largest solar plants around the world are all located in deserts or dry regions.

Researchers imagine it might be possible to transform the world’s largest desert, the Sahara, into a giant solar farm, capable of meeting four times the world’s current energy demand. Blueprints have been drawn up for projects in Tunisia and Morocco that would supply electricity for millions of households in Europe.

Solar panels in Sahara could boost renewable energy but damage the global climate – here's why (theconversation.com)

There is nothing wrong with solar energy outside of the prohibitive cost and substantial inefficiency.

So no, it's no more a contribution to our climate than your average car.

I've got nothing against solar energy, the more the merrier. I'm just sick of the holier-than-thou left who will proclaim that only fossil fuels are harmful.
I don't particularly like looking at hillsides covered with solar panels, and or wind turbines, but I'll take their contribution as long as we don't kill off fossil fuels in the process.