This is scientific American 60 Second Science. I'm Suzanne Bard.

We often associate giant solar arrays with deserts, but the extreme heat can curb solar panels potential.

It's like your laptop or your home computer.

If it overheats, it slows down.

So there's this trade-off between having a lot, a lot of sun like in a desert, but if it gets too hot,

the efficiency of those panels drops.

Oregon State University Ecological Engineer Chad Higgins.

His team is interested in where photovoltaic panels should be located in

in order to maximize energy production. In addition to moderate temperatures and

sunlight they found that conditions for the most efficiency include low relative humidity and gentle winds that enhance transfer of heat from the panels.

By analyzing satellite data for these four factors, they created a map of

potential solar panel productivity for different land types around the globe.

Coming out on top, agricultural crop lands.

When you think about it for a minute, and it kind of makes sense.

What is agriculture but taking the sun's rays and converting it into a form of energy that we consume. So there's this sweet spot

where you get a lot of sun but it's a temperate temperature and that is where you

get the maximum productivity.

And that's also where plants thrive.

Other factors also favor crop land solar.

Agricultural lands tend to be closer to population centers where there is a market for

electricity rather than way off in the desert.

Agricultural lands tend to be flat. They tend to be already disturbed so you don't have as many ecological conservation worries.

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