Is the energy required to manufacture solar panels significant enough to affect the cost-effectiveness of solar energy?
4 thoughts on “Is solar energy worth it due to the cost of solar panels?”
roderick_young
The last I heard, I takes 3-4 years for solar electric panels to generate the energy required to produce them. This is for conventional crystalline panels, and includes energy to refine the aluminum for the frames, shipping, and installation. After that, they’re a net energy win.
Thin-film panels pay back even faster, however, if they don’t last as long, the total energy bonus you get over their lifetime may be less.
There are still people who will claim that solar panels will never return the energy used to make them. This might be a rumor based on decades-old data, when this was true.
Links to scholarly papers below.
Deete
Hi
It’s not just the cost of the panels being produced. The way i look at it is how many hours do you have to work to buy a panel and think about how much energy you used to earn the money. Al the fuel costs etc.
I bought panels a few years ago but then found out how to build homemade solar panels. The info isn’t free but it will save you a fortune. You can find it for free but it seems so complicated.
Try this.
gillian.speke@btinternet.com
Do solar panels take less power to make than is produced?
Dunno – sorry. I doubt that, but I could be being cynical.
Germany must think solar power is worth getting – they’ve been stockpiling solar panels for years, buying the world’s supply…
Technology not quite there yet. Panels still too big, and heavy!
Wait a couple of years, until they bring out simple to install, large light-bulb size, maintenance free storage cells…
whsgreenmom
No matter where you are getting your electricity something has to be manufactured to create it. It isn’t as if we have enough plants currently to satisfy demand. By building and installing solar we can reduce the number of coal or natural gas burning plants that need to be built to supply our growing demand. There is a lot of evidence that the large grid system that we have leaves us more vulnerable to disruption due to attack or natural disaster.
From a personal point of view, it is more cost effective to produce my own electricity using solar panels. I will break even on my system in about 6 years, my system is guaranteed for 25, so I’ll be getting free electricity for 19 years, plus I won’t be affected by the rising cost of energy.
The last I heard, I takes 3-4 years for solar electric panels to generate the energy required to produce them. This is for conventional crystalline panels, and includes energy to refine the aluminum for the frames, shipping, and installation. After that, they’re a net energy win.
Thin-film panels pay back even faster, however, if they don’t last as long, the total energy bonus you get over their lifetime may be less.
There are still people who will claim that solar panels will never return the energy used to make them. This might be a rumor based on decades-old data, when this was true.
Links to scholarly papers below.
Hi
It’s not just the cost of the panels being produced. The way i look at it is how many hours do you have to work to buy a panel and think about how much energy you used to earn the money. Al the fuel costs etc.
I bought panels a few years ago but then found out how to build homemade solar panels. The info isn’t free but it will save you a fortune. You can find it for free but it seems so complicated.
Try this.
Do solar panels take less power to make than is produced?
Dunno – sorry. I doubt that, but I could be being cynical.
Germany must think solar power is worth getting – they’ve been stockpiling solar panels for years, buying the world’s supply…
Technology not quite there yet. Panels still too big, and heavy!
Wait a couple of years, until they bring out simple to install, large light-bulb size, maintenance free storage cells…
No matter where you are getting your electricity something has to be manufactured to create it. It isn’t as if we have enough plants currently to satisfy demand. By building and installing solar we can reduce the number of coal or natural gas burning plants that need to be built to supply our growing demand. There is a lot of evidence that the large grid system that we have leaves us more vulnerable to disruption due to attack or natural disaster.
From a personal point of view, it is more cost effective to produce my own electricity using solar panels. I will break even on my system in about 6 years, my system is guaranteed for 25, so I’ll be getting free electricity for 19 years, plus I won’t be affected by the rising cost of energy.