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Carbon footprint of a solar panel and why it so important in calculating the REAL CO2 savings of your solar hot water solar system...
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The Carbon Footprint of a solar panel
Page 2: Minimising the carbon footprint of our manufacturing process


by Genersys Plc
Last updated: Monday, 02 April 2007
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Talking about efficiency:
At Genersys we try to keep the manufacturing process as efficient as possible.  This doesn't mean costs are cut, in fact it is our investment in state of the art facilities in Slovakia and Germany over 35 years that means we can offer such efficient and high performing solar panels.

One example of this is is by employing our special folding technology, which lets us avoid techniques such as welding.  

In this instance, the benefit is twofold; a no-weld single sheet box is far stronger than one with welds AND cost of energy is reduced.
Manufacturing a Genersys solar panel:
The first part of this article talked about carbon footprints involved in sourcing materials.  This part talks about the manufacturing process and how much carbon is actually used in the construction.  

It seems obvious that the manufacturing process would contribute to a carbon footprint; but just as all solar panels are not created equally, so too there is a need for concern when looking at other solar panels and the manufacture process behind them, and ultimately, what the REAL carbon savings will be.

This part of the article gives you the final, real world, cost (in carbon dioxide) to produce a Genersys solar panel, see "Talking about efficiency".

Energy used:
We have managed to keep manufacturing energy costs to around 45 kWh per panel.

Combining this figure with the energy used in the sourcing and processing of the raw materials we now know the overall energy usage per panel:
The overall energy usage per panel: 768.1 kWh

which translates into:

145.5 kg of carbon dioxide per panel

(using normal energy mix assumptions)

On the next page we will talk about just how much carbon a Genersys solar panel system will save when used in a typical home in the UK.

Click to continue to page 3/4: The REAL carbon savings to a typical UK home





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Manufacturing energy costs per panel is around 45 kWh.
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