Friend's Research on Solar Energy

Sunday, Elizabeth and I spent some time with some amazing people from church, the male host being a man born in Togo and having received his doctorate in engineering in France. He shared about his research, an experiment on two side-by-side solar panels to test which one resists overheating most efficiently.

The Experiment
One panel was cooled using a traditional mechanical method, and he connected it just like anyone would any solar panel. For the other panel, he constructed a cooling mechanism on the backside with the hypothesis that the energy produced with the solar panels is not from the heat but the rays of the sun itself. And when the heat of the day strikes, the solar panel overheats and actually decreases the panel's capacity to produce electricity efficiently.

The cooling mechanism he invented is quite hi-tech: wi-fi, automated cooling jets, automated regulation of energy, automated thermometers, etc.  We are impressed!

Results
He has tested the panels during winter, but now he waits for spring to make concrete conclusions (to test the results through all the seasons and angles of the sun in the year).  Thus far his hypothesis stands and his cooling mechanism worked as expected.