this post was submitted on 21 Apr 2026
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Solar panels are less efficient the hotter they get. Heat makes the electrons in the panel bounce around more at rest, which means they can't be excited as much from the sun's energy. Throwing them in a concrete desert with hot cars parked underneath would probably affect their performance significantly.
Yes, I'm well aware of this. There are plenty of locations where that's not really a problem, though. And generally when they're hotter and therefore less efficient it means there's also relatively abundant sunlight, somewhat counteracting the effect of the heat. Cars also aren't necessarily that hot, particularly if they aren't powered by burning stuff. And putting all of that under the shade of a canopy would reduce the heat reaching the ground. If you used a brighter paving material like concrete, you could even benefit from bifacial panels using the reflected energy.
There are problems and there are solutions, maybe the problems outweigh the solutions but it's still a worthwhile avenue of research to find that out.
All I'm saying is it would make more sense to put them over agricultural land than in parking lots.