Life‐cycle greenhouse gas emissions and energy payback time of current and prospective silicon heterojunction solar cell designs

Louwen, Atse; Sark, W.G.J.H.M. van; Turkenburg, W.C.; Faaij, André

doi:10.1002/pip.2540

Cited by 63 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…For those developing countries whose energy access promotions have not met the requirement of sustainable development [52], the results of this study indicate that solar-powered recycling may be beneficial from an energy perspective in the future. In addition, solar-powered recycling can help developing countries to reduce carbon emissions, which is necessary because the carbon emissions from developing countries are greater than from developed countries with the same unit of value-added [53].…”

Section: Applications For Developing Countriesmentioning

confidence: 87%

Energy Payback Time of a Solar Photovoltaic Powered Waste Plastic Recyclebot System

2017

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Abstract:The growth of both plastic consumption and prosumer 3-D printing are driving an interest in producing 3-D printer filaments from waste plastic. This study quantifies the embodied energy of a vertical DC solar photovoltaic (PV) powered recyclebot based on life cycle energy analysis and compares it to horizontal AC recyclebots, conventional recycling, and the production of a virgin 3-D printer filament. The energy payback time (EPBT) is calculated using the embodied energy of the materials making up the recyclebot itself and is found to be about five days for the extrusion of a poly lactic acid (PLA) filament or 2.5 days for the extrusion of an acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) filament. A mono-crystalline silicon solar PV system is about 2.6 years alone. However, this can be reduced by over 96% if the solar PV system powers the recyclebot to produce a PLA filament from waste plastic (EPBT is only 0.10 year or about a month). Likewise, if an ABS filament is produced from a recyclebot powered by the solar PV system, the energy saved is 90.6-99.9 MJ/kg and 26.33-29.43 kg of the ABS filament needs to be produced in about half a month for the system to pay for itself. The results clearly show that the solar PV system powered recyclebot is already an excellent way to save energy for sustainable development.

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Section: Applications For Developing Countriesmentioning

confidence: 87%

Energy Payback Time of a Solar Photovoltaic Powered Waste Plastic Recyclebot System

2017

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“…Ex-ante or prospective LCA studies have shown that emerging technologies can benefit from better design choices and efficient industrial processes [34,35]. Furthermore, the environmental performance of technologies can benefit from economies of scale.…”

Section: Future Perspectivementioning

confidence: 99%

Green and Clean: Reviewing the Justification of Claims for Nanomaterials from a Sustainability Point of View

et al. 2018

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Nanotechnology is an emerging technology with the potential to contribute towards sustainability. However, there are growing concerns about the potential environmental and human health impacts of nanomaterials. Clearly, nanomaterials have advantages and disadvantages, and a balanced view is needed to assess the overall benefit. The current "green and clean" claims of proponents of nanomaterials across different sectors of the economy are evaluated in this review study. Focusing on carbon emissions and energy use, we have reviewed 18 life cycle assessment studies on nanomaterials in the solar, energy, polymer, medical and food sectors. We find that the "green and clean" claims are not supported for the majority of the reviewed studies in the energy sector. In the solar sector, only specific technologies tend to support the "green and clean" claims. In the polymer sector, only some applications support the "green and clean" claims. The main findings show that nanomaterials have high cradle-to-gate energy demand that result in high carbon emissions. Synthesis of nanomaterials is the main contributor of carbon emissions in the majority of the studies. Future improvements in reducing parameter uncertainties and in the energy efficiency of the synthesis processes of nanomaterials might improve the environmental performance of nanotechnologies.

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“…The key parameters for wafer based crystalline silicon technologies are subject to prospective future scenarios based on expected future trends. A similar modelling approach was applied in Louwen et al [4], Frischknecht et al [29], and Rufer and Braunschweig [30]. These key parameters were modelled based on future projections in the International Technology Roadmap for Photovoltaics (ITRPV) for mono-Si single-junction solar cells [41], in Burschka et al [42], and in Yang et al [43] for non-bifacial perovskite single-junction cells and in Werner [10], Albrecht et al [18], Bush et al [9], and Almansouri et al [26] for monolithic 2-two terminal SHJ-PSC tandem cells.…”

Section: Prospective Scenarios and Model Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The LCI of the deposition of the amorphous silicon layers for the monolithic SHJ-PSC tandem cell are based on Louwen et al [4]. The LCI data of cell and module production are based on the LCI data for mono-Si cells and modules (panels) available in the IEA PVPS LCI report [31].…”

Section: Life Cycle Inventorymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Highly Efficient 3rd Generation Multi-Junction Solar Cells Using Silicon Heterojunction and Perovskite Tandem: Prospective Life Cycle Environmental Impacts

Itten

Stucki

2017

Energies

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Abstract:In this study, the environmental impacts of monolithic silicon heterojunction organometallic perovskite tandem cells (SHJ-PSC) and single junction organometallic perovskite solar cells (PSC) are compared with the impacts of crystalline silicon based solar cells using a prospective life cycle assessment with a time horizon of 2025. This approach provides a result range depending on key parameters like efficiency, wafer thickness, kerf loss, lifetime, and degradation, which are appropriate for the comparison of these different solar cell types with different maturity levels. The life cycle environmental impacts of SHJ-PSC and PSC solar cells are similar or lower compared to conventional crystalline silicon solar cells, given comparable lifetimes, with the exception of mineral and fossil resource depletion. A PSC single-junction cell with 20% efficiency has to exceed a lifetime of 24 years with less than 3% degradation per year in order to be competitive with the crystalline silicon single-junction cells. If the installed PV capacity has to be maximised with only limited surface area available, the SHJ-PSC tandem is preferable to the PSC single-junction because their environmental impacts are similar, but the surface area requirement of SHJ-PSC tandems is only 70% or lower compared to PSC single-junction cells. The SHJ-PSC and PSC cells have to be embedded in proper encapsulation to maximise the stability of the PSC layer as well as handled and disposed of correctly to minimise the potential toxicity impacts of the heavy metals used in the PSC layer.

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Life‐cycle greenhouse gas emissions and energy payback time of current and prospective silicon heterojunction solar cell designs

Cited by 63 publications

References 20 publications

Energy Payback Time of a Solar Photovoltaic Powered Waste Plastic Recyclebot System

Energy Payback Time of a Solar Photovoltaic Powered Waste Plastic Recyclebot System

Green and Clean: Reviewing the Justification of Claims for Nanomaterials from a Sustainability Point of View

Highly Efficient 3rd Generation Multi-Junction Solar Cells Using Silicon Heterojunction and Perovskite Tandem: Prospective Life Cycle Environmental Impacts

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