Re:Single cortical neurons as deep artificial neural networks
by causi on Friday August 13, 2021 @02:12PM
(#28172330)
But the same can be said about photosynthesis which is less efficient at capturing solar energy than PVs.
The instantaneous efficiency is much lower, sure, but the lifetime efficiency is another question. The resource cost to create a plant is the nutrient/energy cost of producing and dispersing a seed. The energy cost of producing and installing a solar panel is enormous by comparison, and takes years if not decades to capture more resources than it took to produce.
Home solar panels capture 11-15% of incoming energy. Plant leaves capture 3-6%. Do you have solar panels now? If you could throw five dollars in seeds over your roof and get half that amount of electricity, would you?
The instantaneous efficiency is much lower, sure, but the lifetime efficiency is another question. The resource cost to create a plant is the nutrient/energy cost of producing and dispersing a seed. The energy cost of producing and installing a solar panel is enormous by comparison, and takes years if not decades to capture more resources than it took to produce.
Home solar panels capture 11-15% of incoming energy. Plant leaves capture 3-6%. Do you have solar panels now? If you could throw five dollars in seeds over your roof and get half that amount of electricity, would you?