The solar
photovoltaic panel was introduced around 1954 and since then the cells have
become more efficient and are manufactured at cheaper rates. Think of all the energy that goes into making a single
solar panel. Quartz and copper must be mined. The raw materials must be
converted into wafers, then encased in protective material. In addition, after
panels leave the factory, they must be shipped all over the world. A
question, which comes up, is whether the solar industry has saved any energy in
the process. To that concern, a new analysis answers “Yes”.
The solar industry probably paid off its long-term
energy and climate “debts” in 2011, a study published this week in Nature
Communications finds.
The research was conducted at the University of
Utrecht and the University of Groningen. Spearheaded by Dr. Wilfried van Sark,
the study was published in Nature Communications. This study, conducted by
researchers at the University of Utrecht and the University of Groningen, is a
type of research called “lifecycle analysis,” which investigates the total
environmental impact of a product over time. The study states that since 1975, the
solar-panel industry has almost certainly prevented more greenhouse-gas
emissions than it emitted. It has also cumulatively produced more energy than
it initially required.
The objective was to study the environmental impact
of the solar panels over time. The researchers had to find and then
calibrate 40 years of data (both economic and energy) from different countries.
The study has a best-case and worst-case scenario, and the authors suggested a
break-even on the net energy in 2017. In 2018 the break-even on the greenhouse
gas emissions is suggested. The optimistic view states that the energy debt was
paid off in 1997.
In other words, the solar industry is now likely
historically carbon-neutral, if not carbon-negative.
Professor of chemical and environmental engineering at
Olin College, Scott Hersey, said that the study had solid methods but was
fraught with assumptions.
Once the solar
industry becomes net carbon-negative, it will stay that way, as solar-panel
manufacturing has gotten cheaper, cleaner, and more energy-efficient over time.
In addition, of course, the carbon footprint of the solar industry is much,
much smaller than that of the oil or gas business.
Location
of panel production: Solar panels manufactured in Europe and
China varies. As China relies more on coal burning for its electricity and is
fraught with lax environmental protections. Whereas, EU, has more clean energy
and stricter environmental bases. Solar panels thus manufactured in China would
require a lot of energy as against EU.
How old is the solar
environmental-impact data? The study’s explicit task is to compare the
environmental-impact data from the 1970s to the same data from the 2010s. However,
most people consider the newer data to be of significantly higher quality.
The future development of photovoltaic maybe be
difficult to predict, but it is certainly getting more efficient, and cheaper.
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