Carbon footprint from Chinese solar panels twice the size of those made in Europe
Solar panels made in China result in twice as much greenhouse gas as those produced in Europe, with lack of environmental standards blamed
The manufacture of Chinese solar panels exported to Europe produce a carbon footprint twice the size of those made in Europe, a US study has found.
The study was conducted by Northwestern University and the Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory and published in the Solar Energy Journal.
"It takes a lot of energy to extract and process solar-grade silicon, and in China that energy tends to come from dirtier and less-efficient energy sources than it does in Europe," said Seth Darling, a co-author of the report and Argonne scientist.
The study analysed the "embedded" energy in Chinese- made solar panels, from mining of raw materials, the manufacturing process and shipping the finished products.
"While it might be an economically attractive option to move solar-panel manufacturing from Europe to China, it is actually less sustainable from the lifecycle energy and environmental perspective," said Fengqi You, assistant professor of chemical and biological engineering at Northwestern University and an author of the paper.
A Chinese-produced solar panel made from silicon and installed in sunny southern Europe would need to be used for 20 to 30 per cent longer than a European-made panel to produce enough energy to offset the higher carbon emissions of its production.