Overheard a guy at the bus stop say solar panels don't work in cloudy places

I bit my tongue but Germany gets way less sun than Seattle and they're still cranking out solar like crazy so that argument just doesn't hold up, has anyone else run into this myth and how do you shut it down politely?

2 comments

2 Comments

richard_hall14d ago

Oh come on, that's such an old myth. Germany's literally one of the world leaders in solar and they get way less sunshine than most of the US. Panels just need daylight, not direct blazing sun.

willow73214d ago

I actually used to think the same thing until a friend showed me the numbers on Germany @richard_hall. They produce like 50 gigawatts of solar power and their weather is basically grey soup half the year. Panels just need daylight not direct sunlight and they actually work better in cooler temperatures anyway. I remember seeing a study that said Seattle loses maybe 10-20% efficiency compared to Arizona which is nothing. That guy at the bus stop probably just heard it somewhere and never questioned it.