I have a bit of an armchair interest, although by no means am I an industry expert. The term I started off searching for was for "embodied energy" cost and "ero

I have a bit of an armchair interest, although by no means am I an industry expert. The term I started off searching for was for "embodied energy" cost and "eroi" (energy return on investment). Here's one of the top results of a search I just did, which seems like a good start for those interested: A Comparative Analysis of Energy Costs of Photovoltaic, Solar Thermal, and Wind Electricity Generation Technologies [1] - this is a 2013 meta-analysis of life-cycle assessments (LCA) and life-cycle energy costs (LCEC) in kWhe/Wp and kWhe/We - these are split into both capex and opex. Here's another study from 2012, The Energy Return on Energy Investment (EROI) of Photovoltaics: Methodology and Comparisons with Fossil Fuel Life Cycles [2] that gives a chart w/ comparison to coal & oil energy - looks like plants w/ all PV types have better EROI than oil-fired electricity, and the best performing PV has EROI of about 12, on par w/ the worst performing coal-fired electricity (an EROI of 1 is breakeven btw). Ah, just find this 2015 review: Energy payback time (EPBT) and energy return on energy invested (EROI) of solar photovoltaic systems: A systematic review and meta-analysis [3] which actually might be the best paper I've seen yet. It looks like EROI for solar is actually growing tremendously as volume/learning rate advancements are applied. If I'm reading the chart correctly, EPBT (energy payback time) for mono-Si is approaching 2 years (the time of which has been decreasing with each newer study) as more panels/plants are getting built. (Interesting, this paper [4] from 2000 seems to correctly project payback times: "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.") [1] PDF: http://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/3/2/325/pdf http://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/3/2/325/pdf [2] PDF: http://www.clca.columbia.edu/241_Raugei_EROI_EP_revised_II_2012-03_VMF.pdf http://www.clca.columbia.edu/241_Raugei_EROI_EP_revised_II_2... [3] PDF: http://astro1.panet.utoledo.edu/~relling2/PDF/pubs/life_cycle_assesment_ellingson_apul_(2015)_ren_and_sustain._energy_revs.pdf http://astro1.panet.utoledo.edu/~relling2/PDF/pubs/life_cycl... [4] http://www.ecotopia.com/apollo2/pvepbtoz.htm http://www.ecotopia.com/apollo2/pvepbtoz.htm