Comments on: how many barrels of oil does it take to make a solar panel? http://slashmyelectricbilltoday.com/blog/make-solar-panel/how-many-barrels-of-oil-does-it-take-to-make-a-solar-panel Save Money By Saving Mother Earth Tue, 07 Sep 2010 11:11:44 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 hourly 1 By: roderick_young http://slashmyelectricbilltoday.com/blog/make-solar-panel/how-many-barrels-of-oil-does-it-take-to-make-a-solar-panel/comment-page-1#comment-6350 roderick_young Fri, 10 Jul 2009 09:43:59 +0000 http://slashmyelectricbilltoday.com/blog/make-solar-panel/how-many-barrels-of-oil-does-it-take-to-make-a-solar-panel#comment-6350 Below is a link to a summary of a more scholarly paper from the National Renewable Energy labs. You should be able to find more recent papers, but the linked information is still valid - conservative, by today's standards. Solar cells today are thinner, and use perhaps only 60% fo the silicon that the 1999 author assumed. Anyway, the energy calculation was 420 kWh/m^2 to make panels. How the 420 kWh is generated matters greatly, and it will usually not be generated by burning oil or oil derivatives. Solar is NOT generally a replacement for oil. However, according to the second site, a barrel of oil has an energy content of 6.1 x 10^9 joules or ~1700 kWh. But that's heat energy. I would assume that half of that energy is thrown away if it were used to generate electricity, so the answer would be anywhere from 1/4 to 1/2 a bbl of oil to create a 1 m^2 solar panel. This energy is easily returned in a few years, possibly less, if the solar panel is installed in a reasonably sunny location.<br><b>References : </b><br>http://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy99osti/24619.pdf http://www.evworld.com/library/energy_numbers.pdf Below is a link to a summary of a more scholarly paper from the National Renewable Energy labs. You should be able to find more recent papers, but the linked information is still valid - conservative, by today’s standards. Solar cells today are thinner, and use perhaps only 60% fo the silicon that the 1999 author assumed. Anyway, the energy calculation was 420 kWh/m^2 to make panels.

How the 420 kWh is generated matters greatly, and it will usually not be generated by burning oil or oil derivatives. Solar is NOT generally a replacement for oil. However, according to the second site, a barrel of oil has an energy content of 6.1 x 10^9 joules or ~1700 kWh. But that’s heat energy. I would assume that half of that energy is thrown away if it were used to generate electricity, so the answer would be anywhere from 1/4 to 1/2 a bbl of oil to create a 1 m^2 solar panel. This energy is easily returned in a few years, possibly less, if the solar panel is installed in a reasonably sunny location.
References :
http://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy99osti/24619.pdf
http://www.evworld.com/library/energy_numbers.pdf

]]> By: Peter Reefman http://slashmyelectricbilltoday.com/blog/make-solar-panel/how-many-barrels-of-oil-does-it-take-to-make-a-solar-panel/comment-page-1#comment-6349 Peter Reefman Fri, 10 Jul 2009 09:03:59 +0000 http://slashmyelectricbilltoday.com/blog/make-solar-panel/how-many-barrels-of-oil-does-it-take-to-make-a-solar-panel#comment-6349 Well, a barrel of oil has at least 317kg of CO2 http://numero57.net/?p=255 And a solar panel of 120watts (about 4 feet by 3 feet) has about 150kg of CO2 http://www.greenlivingtips.com/articles/237/1/Solar-panel-basics.html So it's about .47 barrels to produce the panel. By the way it'd take about 18 months to pay that CO2 'debt' back.<br><b>References : </b><br> Well, a barrel of oil has at least 317kg of CO2
http://numero57.net/?p=255

And a solar panel of 120watts (about 4 feet by 3 feet) has about 150kg of CO2
http://www.greenlivingtips.com/articles/237/1/Solar-panel-basics.html

So it’s about .47 barrels to produce the panel.

By the way it’d take about 18 months to pay that CO2 ‘debt’ back.
References :

]]> By: Ryan R http://slashmyelectricbilltoday.com/blog/make-solar-panel/how-many-barrels-of-oil-does-it-take-to-make-a-solar-panel/comment-page-1#comment-6348 Ryan R Fri, 10 Jul 2009 08:26:59 +0000 http://slashmyelectricbilltoday.com/blog/make-solar-panel/how-many-barrels-of-oil-does-it-take-to-make-a-solar-panel#comment-6348 I don't think the comparison is valid. How many cupcakes does it take to make a Chrysler 300? I'm sure a company that makes solar panels probably also uses them on their buildings. And most building are powered by coal or natural gas. So the answer to your question is ZERO barrels of crude oil go into making solar panels.<br><b>References : </b><br> I don’t think the comparison is valid. How many cupcakes does it take to make a Chrysler 300? I’m sure a company that makes solar panels probably also uses them on their buildings. And most building are powered by coal or natural gas. So the answer to your question is ZERO barrels of crude oil go into making solar panels.
References :

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