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Yes, right now they do have a carbon footprint but it is far lower than fossil fuels. In the future - when production is done with green energy - that will get

Yes, right now they do have a carbon footprint but it is far lower than fossil fuels. In the future - when production is done with green energy - that will get far lower. https://www.mnn.com/green-tech/research-innovations/blogs/how-much-co2-does-one-solar-panel-create https://www.mnn.com/green-tech/research-innovations/blogs/ho... https://www.euractiv.com/section/energy/opinion/mondaycop22-lower-co2-emissions-with-lower-carbon-solar-energy/ https://www.euractiv.com/section/energy/opinion/mondaycop22-...

ekianjo 8y ago
Not sure if your links answer the question. They mention "30x less carbon footprint than coal" not that they are not net waste all things considered. Which is a very different question. And "carbon footprint" is not the only thing that matters either. If your process involves tons of heavy metals, that's a lot more relevant in soil pollution than carbon.
- radicalbyte 8y ago
  It's nothing even comparable to coal? Have you seen how much of that stuff is actually burned per kw/h? It's absolutely insane if you've seen it. Especially when you imagine the logistics involved (or in my case have been shown the logistics involved in only a very small case, which was already shocking for me).
  - ekianjo 8y ago
    Not sure why you are coming back on coal. Thats is not my point. My point is that the link does not give any support to whether or not solar panels are net waste energetically speaking. Its fairly obvious that they are probably much better than the worst fossil fuel, but that does not answer the original question raised.
mac01021 8y ago
Even if they had zero carbon footprint, they could still be a waste. If making them uses more energy than they'll ever produce, you might be better off just using that enery to charge some batteries and then use the batteries in place of the solar cell.
- geggam 8y ago
  Except batteries waste energy as well. You never get 100% of what you put in. I am sure someone here knows the exact percentage but my personal experience with lead acid and solar panels leads me to the opinion storing then converting solar energy from DC to AC wastes 80% or so of the total produced My workshop I am building will run on DC 12 volts and have 3k to 4k or so of solar panels and another 2kw of baby wind turbines because of what I learned dabbling with solar power.
  - mac01021 8y ago
    That sounds really neat. Did you DIY all the solar and wind installation? Any pointers to resources about that stuff that I'm not likely to find easily by googling?
    - geggam 8y ago
      All DIY Lead Acid batteries are ok Keep the charge high on the batteries, the higher you keep it the better. Down to 10 volts is hard on them. Used forklift batteries are a good large battery for wind which creates a high surge you want a battery regulator setup instead of the standard solar controller http://hydrogenappliances.com/batteryregulator.html http://hydrogenappliances.com/batteryregulator.html I really think generating hydrogen under pressure with electrolysis would be a viable storage of non used electricity but I have yet to build that system
- xbmcuser 8y ago
  Ah no you are taking physics principle of energy can not be gained only transformed but discounting sun energy in your calculations which is another input. Solar panels were a waste in energy terms 10 years ago. Today that is no longer the case. https://phys.org/news/2016-12-solar-panels-repay-energy-debt.html https://phys.org/news/2016-12-solar-panels-repay-energy-debt...

ekianjo 8y ago

Not sure if your links answer the question. They mention "30x less carbon footprint than coal" not that they are not net waste all things considered. Which is a very different question. And "carbon footprint" is not the only thing that matters either. If your process involves tons of heavy metals, that's a lot more relevant in soil pollution than carbon.

radicalbyte 8y ago
It's nothing even comparable to coal? Have you seen how much of that stuff is actually burned per kw/h? It's absolutely insane if you've seen it. Especially when you imagine the logistics involved (or in my case have been shown the logistics involved in only a very small case, which was already shocking for me).
- ekianjo 8y ago
  Not sure why you are coming back on coal. Thats is not my point. My point is that the link does not give any support to whether or not solar panels are net waste energetically speaking. Its fairly obvious that they are probably much better than the worst fossil fuel, but that does not answer the original question raised.

mac01021 8y ago

Even if they had zero carbon footprint, they could still be a waste. If making them uses more energy than they'll ever produce, you might be better off just using that enery to charge some batteries and then use the batteries in place of the solar cell.

geggam 8y ago
Except batteries waste energy as well. You never get 100% of what you put in. I am sure someone here knows the exact percentage but my personal experience with lead acid and solar panels leads me to the opinion storing then converting solar energy from DC to AC wastes 80% or so of the total produced My workshop I am building will run on DC 12 volts and have 3k to 4k or so of solar panels and another 2kw of baby wind turbines because of what I learned dabbling with solar power.
- mac01021 8y ago
  That sounds really neat. Did you DIY all the solar and wind installation? Any pointers to resources about that stuff that I'm not likely to find easily by googling?
  - geggam 8y ago
    All DIY Lead Acid batteries are ok Keep the charge high on the batteries, the higher you keep it the better. Down to 10 volts is hard on them. Used forklift batteries are a good large battery for wind which creates a high surge you want a battery regulator setup instead of the standard solar controller http://hydrogenappliances.com/batteryregulator.html http://hydrogenappliances.com/batteryregulator.html I really think generating hydrogen under pressure with electrolysis would be a viable storage of non used electricity but I have yet to build that system
xbmcuser 8y ago
Ah no you are taking physics principle of energy can not be gained only transformed but discounting sun energy in your calculations which is another input. Solar panels were a waste in energy terms 10 years ago. Today that is no longer the case. https://phys.org/news/2016-12-solar-panels-repay-energy-debt.html https://phys.org/news/2016-12-solar-panels-repay-energy-debt...