Solar Panels Mystery

• It is a mystery to me why the solar panels work so well in September.
• In the summer it does not rain. Dust collects on floors and tables, books and computer screens, blown in as yellow haze from the east or formed from the dry dirt around the thistles in uncultivated fields.
• Surely dust also covers the collector panels? And dust must block the photons whose energy converts to electricity (http://www.science.org.au/nova/005/005box03.htm ) to heat the water. Fewer photons, less electricity. Less electricity, cooler water.
• And yet the water gets hot each day until the Autumn rains fall (http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/10/solar-water-heater.html ).
• A mystery with a solution no doubt, but still a mystery to me.
• http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/05/my-jerusalem-neighborhood.html describes the panels and water tanks as part of the view. Though not picturesque, they are beautiful in their meaning for the ecology (assuming that the negative effect of their manufacture, and disposal when theur usefulness has passed, does not outweigh the positive effect of decreased need for power plants and fossil fuel.

Copyright 2006 Jane S. Fox.