For power generation, the stat commonly used is “EROI” or “EROEI” Eg energy returned on energy invested. This is sometimes expressed in time range (which depen

For power generation, the stat commonly used is “EROI” or “EROEI” Eg energy returned on energy invested. This is sometimes expressed in time range (which depends on average generation rate based on where it is installed etc) or just energy vs energy ratio (Eg kWh to produce vs lifetime kWh generated) As others have said this statistic is not the whole picture, type of pollution generated due to the construction of the solar panel, wind turbine etc should vs other technology should also be take into account so this gets pretty complex pretty quickly. Some recent studies [0] show a break down of input/output for solar with Switzerland of 9-10:1, this is likely higher if panel was installed in Australia for example and goes into some detail showing a fairly minimal amount of storage in an electricity grid (8%) increases the amount of usable generation for wind and solar which improves that ratio. Wind I believe has a better EROI but has a lot more complexity when it comes to installation, maintenance so how much this is taken into consideration and will likely vary for onshore vs offshore installations. Numbers I’ve read before were in the 16-20:1 range but can’t find any decent study sources at the moment. Hope that helps. [0] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421516307066 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S030142151...