Thanks Phillip for the link and the facts,
some pasted below --
Japan, Germany and the United States constituted
75% of the world market in 2003, up from
71% the previous year.
Of the global demand for solar photovoltaics,
38% is accounted for by Japan,
34% by European countries and
11% by the United States.
Grid connected applications accounted for
77% of the total world market in 2003.
In Japan and Germany, grid-connected applications
accounted for over 95% of the markets.
Around 50% of the world's solar cell production was
manufactured in Japan in 2003.
United States accounted for 12%.
http://www.solarbuzz.com/FastFactsIndustry.htm
This has been mentioned here before (thanks Kirk) --
An unexpected discovery could yield a full spectrum solar cell
Nov 18, 2002
http://www.lbl.gov/Science-Articles/Archive/MSD-full-spectrum-solar-cell.html
Dozens of different layers could be stacked to catch photons at all
energies, reaching efficiencies better than 70 percent, but too many
problems intervene. When crystal lattices differ too much, for example,
strain damages the crystals. The most efficient multijunction solar cell
yet made -- 30 percent, out of a possible 50 percent efficiency -- has
just two layers.
Ed, I'm not sure but maybe this will be of some help --
Can Solar Cells Ever Recapture the Energy Invested in their Manufacture?
Richard Corkish
Photovoltaics Special Research Centre
University of New South Wales, Sydney 2052 Australia
from Solar Progress
(Australia and New Zealand Solar Energy Society)
vol. 18, No. 2, pp. 16-17 (1997)
http://www.ecotopia.com/apollo2/pvpayback.htm
The 1983 book by Hu and White [1 ] summarises the results from a
1977 Solarex study [ 2] which found an energy payback time of
6.4 years for the manufacture of solar modules using
silicon cells of 12.5 per cent efficiency
The Energy Intensity of Photovoltaic Systems
Andrew Blakers and Klaus Weber
Centre for Sustainable Energy Systems
Engineering Department, Australian National University
October 2000
http://www.ecotopia.com/apollo2/pvepbtoz.htm
Summary -- The use of photovoltaic systems on a large scale in
order to reduce fossil fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions
requires that the energy associated with the construction, operation
and decommissioning of PV systems be small compared with energy
production during the system lifetime. That is, the energy payback
time should be short. The energy intensity and cost of PV systems are
closely related. At present the energy payback time for PV systems is
in the range 8 to 11 years, compared with typical system lifetimes of
around 30 years. About 60% of the embodied energy is due to the
silicon wafers. As the PV industry reduces production costs and
moves to the use of thin film solar cells the energy payback time
will decline to about two years
Comparison with coal and gas derived electricity --
Figure 3 Greenhouse gas intensities for the production of
electricity from coal, gas and photovoltaics.
PV Payback
Karl E. Knapp Theresa L. Jester
Home Power #80 ð December 2000 / January 2001
http://www.homepower.com/files/pvpayback.pdf
Critics of solar energy have been known to claim that
it takes more energy to produce photovoltaic (PV) modules
than the modules will produce in their lifetime.
Weâve conducted a detailed and scientific empirical study
to look into this question. We found that the skepticsâ
assertions are false. PVs recoup their production energy in
two to four years, and go on to produce clean,
renewable energy for twenty to thirty years or more!
Energy Leverage Of Photovoltaics
http://www.ecotopia.com/apollo2/pvlever.htm
- Previous Message -
Ed,
Here is a nify website with all types of facts and
figures. I don't know them but am a reader of their
website.
http://www.solarbuzz.com/
P.Wolfe
--- westewar.edu wrote:
Anyone have information about how solar cell energy lifecycle efficiency
(energy input required to mine and tranform these elements into solar
cells versus the electricty production over the life of the cells)
compares with other fuels and engery sources?
Ed
- Original Message -
The silicon cells APS has been testing at the STAR center have
about a 20 percent efficiency rating, meaning that about 20 percent
of the sun's energy is converted to electricity.
The new cells, which are made of layers of gallium indium phosphide,
indium gallium arsenide and germanium, have a conversion
efficiency of about 32 percent, Johnston said.
APS testing world's most efficient solar cells
By Ed Taylor, Tribune
Nov 1, 2004
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/index.php?sty=30814
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