The atmospheric pollution it affects the human being causing an increase in respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. It also reduces the amount of solar radiation that falls on the earth's surface, due to the fact that they form mists where the greatest amount of greenhouse gases is concentrated.
For countries that are heavily polluted such as China, India and the Arabian Peninsula, air pollution is a big problem for investments in solar energy installations, since due to pollution, solar panels receive less solar radiation.
Air pollution and solar energy
A study has been carried out on the efficiency of investment in these countries in solar energy and the decrease in production due to pollution. The study has been published by Duke University in Durham (North Carolina) and has been led by Duke Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering Michael Bergin. The study analyzed the decrease in solar energy collected by solar panels that became dirty over time by airborne particles and their accumulation in solar cells.
Although most of the dirt usually comes from dust, the small particles that are derived from the contamination of human origin, being even smaller, they cause much greater energy losses, since they block more light.
“The artificial particles are small and sticky, so they are much more difficult to clean. You might think that the solution is to clean the solar panels more frequently, but the more they are cleaned, the greater the risk of damaging them, ”explained Bergin.
Areas that tend to be more arid, such as the Arabian Peninsula, tend to lose between 17% and 25% of energy due to pollution. This loss was observed with a monthly cleaning. However, in places where cleaning was carried out every two months, it was observed an energy loss of between 25% and 35%. We are talking about a decrease in energy production performance due to air pollution, which is also harmful to humans. China has tens of billions of dollars in losses every year, caused 80% by pollution. With the explosion of renewables in China and its recent commitment to solar in particular, that number will only increase.