As it heats up, thermal losses from the collector itself will reduce its Mechanical efficiency, resulting in increased radiation, primarily infrared.
Insulated glazing reduces thermal loss, lowering energy consumption and increasing transparency.
Crust can form on the corium mass, acting as a thermal insulator and hindering thermal losses.
In silicon this reduces the theoretical performance under normal operating conditions by another 10% over and above the thermal losses noted above.
In its basic form, it does not appreciably insulate against other thermal losses such as heat conduction or convection.
Total energy used in 2010 was 98.16 Quadrillion Btu (28,800 TWh, but over 30% is thermal losses).
By moving the heat away from the collection surface, it greatly reduces thermal losses at night and improves net heat gain.
This allows greater power, but are less efficient because not all of the light is correctly imaged into the rod, leading to increased thermal losses.
All of the living quarters were below the surface to decrease the thermal losses of the colony.
Transparent silica aerogel would be very suitable as a thermal insulation material for windows, significantly limiting thermal losses of buildings.