pianotuna wrote:
Watts per square meter from sunlight are about 1004 watts. 527 watts are infrared, and 32 watts are ultraviolet.
That leaves 445 for visible light. Given a 17% efficient solar panel harvesting 75 watts is about the best that can be done cheaply. That represents about 4.5 amps.
Not quite sure of your calculation there, but panel efficiency is calculated using the total irradiance from the sun, approx. 1kW/m^2 even though longer wavelength, lower frequency light has less power (infrared). This means that the average panel produces 140-170 watts per sq. meter of panel.
As far as the concept car, wonder what are they doing with the 8x heat generated?
