"solar panels cost more in energy to produce than they give back during exploitation for example)" is not correct (maybe your information is from e.g. 20+ year

"solar panels cost more in energy to produce than they give back during exploitation for example)" is not correct (maybe your information is from e.g. 20+ years ago). There are many sources, here is one of them: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystalline_silicon#Energy_payback_time https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystalline_silicon#Energy_pay... About: ".. they can lose more than half the energy between the power plant and the client's house." - this seems extremely unlikely to be a representative case. Maybe your friends were telling you about some extreme case (they are always the best stories :)