Air pollution absorbs
and disperses sunlight,
reducing the amount
that reaches Earth's
surface.
A Chinese study published
in Advances in Atmospheric
Sciences on Aug 20, 2019
reports that the smaller
the particles, the more
harmful the impacts are.
The amount of sunlight
that reaches Earth's
surface fluctuates.
Cloud cover and aerosols
- particulates like dust or ash --
block some sunlight.
China is the world's largest
producer of photovoltaic (PV)
power generated from
solar panels.
East Asia, especially China,
has also become one of the
most populated regions
in the world.
And Asian cities, especially
in China and India, have lots
of air pollution.
The study aimed to determine
how much air pollution affects
sunlight under cloud-free skies
in Nanjing, China.
Yong Han, PhD,
and professor
at the school of
Atmospheric Sciences,
Sun Yat-Sen University,
Guangzhou, China, says
the study gathered
information during
all four seasons,
and under
different weather
and light conditions.
The variation
of solar radiation
scattered by
particulate matter
is dominated
by fine particles
-- coarse particles,
surprisingly, have
little effect.
This means air pollution
reduces the sunlight
received by solar panels.
Which reduces
the efficiency
of solar power
generation.
Air pollution
is yet another factor
making solar power
less desirable than
fossil fuels
( in addition to
the much higher
expense and the
intermittent energy
production. )
"Our ultimate goal
is to understand
processes related
to aerosol, cloud
and radiation,
and develop
measurable
parameters
to improve
climate and weather
prediction models,"
said author Chunsong Lu, PhD
and professor at the Key Laboratory
for Aerosol-Cloud-Precipitation
of China Meteorological Administration,
School of Atmospheric Physics,
Nanjing University of Information
Science and Technology, Nanjing, China.