Energy pay-back time and CO2 emissions of PV systems

Abstract

The energy requirements for the production of PV modules and BOS components are analyzed in order to evaluate the energy pay‐back time and the CO2 emissions of grid‐connected PV systems. Both c‐Si and thin film module technologies are investigated. Assuming an irradiation of 1700 kWh/m2/yr the energy pay‐back time was found to be 2·5–3 years for present‐day roof‐top installations and 3–4 years for multi‐megawatt, ground‐mounted systems. The specific CO2 emission of the rooftop systems was calculated as 50–60 g/kWh now and possibly 20–30 g/kWh in the future. This leads to the conclusion that in the longer term grid‐connected PV systems can contribute significantly to the mitigation of CO2 emissions. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Life cycle assessment of electricity production from renewable energies: Review and results harmonization

“…The reviewed papers about photovoltaic (PV) applications were 11 [47,48,[75][76][77][78][79][80][81][82][83], regarding 33 case studies; also one technical document [84] concerning three case studies was included according to the selection criteria (Fig. 1).…”

Attributional life cycle assessment of mounted 1.8 kWp monocrystalline photovoltaic system with batteries and comparison with fossil energy production system

“…The cumulative energy demand, used in renewable energy technology research [55,56,9,[57][58][59] quantifies all the energy consumed during the life cycle of a product.…”

Improvement of the efficiency of thiophene-bridged compounds for dye-sensitized solar cells

“…(8) with the ratio f dye /f TPA-2 replacing f), the compounds listed in Table 3 show the following trends: (i) TPA-10, -13, -14, and -15 have a LHE significantly superior to TPA-2 (i.e. >0.9200), whereas TPA-16 (18-diCOOH-TPA-2) shows an improved LHE (RLHE of 0.9046) without significant deterioration of the exergonic character of the free enthalpy of injection; (ii) for the set of the compounds listed in the two tables, it is impossible to isolate one structure showing a huge improvement of both LHE and injection driving force; (iii) for a large majority of dyes, the chemical modifications lead to a slight improvement of RLHE and a deterioration of the DG inject.…”

“…Indeed, with the foreseen 10 13 W of new power needed for the coming 50 years, the carbon oxide (mainly CO 2 ) concentration resulting from the fossil fuel-based energy generation will exceed the current level ($400 ppm) that has to be maintained. In this framework, solar photovoltaic devices are likely to be leading technologies in a promising ''low-carbon level" future [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8].…”