Fossil Fuels Used To Make Solar Panels

Solar panels have little metal edges around the panels.

Fossil fuels used to make solar panels.

Efficient uses of money would include making buildings more energy efficient and weatherproof installing energy efficiency appliances cars using alternative fuels and planting trees he said. In terms of reliable application coal and natural gas have the edge. The silicon used to make the vast majority of today s photovoltaic cells is abundant but a silicon based solar cell requires a lot of energy input in its manufacturing process said. The sun provides a free and renewable source of energy.

The ultimate way to compare solar energy to fossil fuels is by cost where solar has quickly caught up with its non renewable counterparts. A new company biosolar aims to kick. Daqo new energy corp. Outside the limitation that solar energy cannot be used 24 hours a day without a storage solution it is better than fossil fuels.

Anything made of metal takes lots of energy to make. The initial step in producing the silicon at the heart of most panels is to melt silica rock at 3 000 degrees fahrenheit using electricity commonly from coal fired power plants. Dq n which makes polysilicon that companies like jinko and canadian solar use to make solar panels has also announced its intention to list on that exchange. But the process of making the various components requires fossil fuels both for power and for the components themselves some of which are based on petroleum.

The breakthrough means that for the first time concentrated solar energy can be used to create the extreme heat required to make cement steel glass and other industrial processes. In other words carbon free sunlight can replace fossil fuels in a heavy carbon emitting corner of the economy that has been untouched by the clean energy revolution. The metal train cars and the metal railroad tracks that are used to truck that coal by rail that runs across the country from wyoming to fuel the coal plant in pennsylvania all those things made of metal take energy to make.