CO2 and greenhouse gas emission

Does anyone knows if there is a way of calculating the emissions given a solar system installation?

Are you looking at a lifetime estimate, ie carbon footprint of building the system, vs payback to a break-even point?

I’m sure the numbers should be very similar to that for electric vehicles, for which there are sources out there. Your google is as good as mine though :slight_smile:

You can probably fudge the divide between vehicle and home system by using a 16kWh/100km factor, which is pretty average.

I am also puzzled by the question.
Generally, if one asks about emissions, one talks about operating emissions.
For example, how much CO2 /km, or in other words, how much nasty stuff/ unit of production.

Establishment costs and recycling costs, although ubiquitous, are generally disregarded.

By that measure, I’d say emissions are practically non-existent.

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Google says battery production costs 200kg of CO2 per kWh, and 950 grams per kWh for coal.

So after 210 cycles, the battery repaid its cost… if the energy that goes into it has no energy footprint at all. But of course it does.

Residential solar emits 40 to 50 grams per kWh, but that is over its lifecycle, which is 25 to 35 years. Most sources seems to say they repay in 3 years or so.

So, thumbsuck, batteries and solar panels are repaid around year 5.

That’s not very scientific, I know :slight_smile:

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And now for the green backlash:

https://archive.li/geazH

More bad news for the transition…

https://archive.ph/ueT4z

More to it than that.

The International Energy Agency thinks differently in its latest report, forecasting that global demand for fossil fuels will peak in 2030, though demand for oil and gas will then remain flat until 2050, while it falls sharply for coal.
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