07 Apr Solar Panels will not Pay Back their Energy Debt until 2020
Here’s some very interesting news for the day: A new study has claimed that so much fossil fuel has been used in the total global production of solar panels that the world’s combined solar panels will not pay off their energy debt until 2020.
The study, conducted by Stanford University, analysed the total amount of fossil fuels needed in the construction of a solar panel. The researchers behind the study found that solar panels have only just begun to surpass the energy used to construct them, meaning that the global amount of solar panels will not pay off their debt for 7 years.
Despite this latest research and study from Stanford University showing bleak numbers for solar panels, the tide will turn in 2020, with the total global supply of solar panels paying off their debt. The report concluded that the real energy pay off will start in 2015 and likely hit its peak in 2020.
The world is currently in a state of disarray with its energy consumption. The UK government and governments across the globe are constantly giving media coverage to global warming, and there is now more than ever a pressure on the average consumer to become more eco-friendly and live greener. Solar panels are one such technological development to which millions of pounds per year is ploughed in to development.
In 2008 Environmental engineer Vasilis Fthenakis, a senior scientist at Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, N.Y, concluded that the energy needed to create a solar panel entails fewer emissions than a solar panel will throughout its lifetime.
Via: Express.co.uk
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