"The sun is [...] currently the only energy source capable of supplying the energy consumption of the human race"
https://phys.org/news/2016-11-techno...effective.html
Is this that "Fake news" that the annoying kids keep complaining about? In how many decades could solar produce 100% of our electricity (during the day?) I know that it would probably take decades to create enough nuclear power, but at least it would work at night, during an eclipse, and when there is snow on the panels.
Anyway...
Solar panels supposedly absorb the full range of visible light, about 46% of the light that the earth receives. Ultraviolet is 7% and infrared is 47%.
https://www.solarpoweristhefuture.co...nels-use.shtml
Is infrared as energetic as visible light?
Not if you believe everything that you read on-line. Red has more energy than infrared, violet has the most energy of the visible spectrum, and ultraviolet has still more.
https://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/scienc...spectrum1.html
The source that I read before said that silicon cells were up to 25% efficient, but the first article that I linked in this post says 30%, and then described a process that sounds like the quantum dots, converting infrared and ultraviolet light into the visible spectrum.
Supposedly that would make the panels up to 50% efficient, but that would also mean that only 50% of irradiation would create heat, compared to 70%. Unfortunately, they do not feel that they will have a prototype until 2021.
I would be curious to see panels that turned ultraviolet and infrared light into the visible spectrum without solar panels. That could brighten up normally dark rooms.