Photovoltaics more expensive lately... but still green

The current issue of Environmental Building News reports that PV prices have been going up, reversing the declining cost trend of previous years. Seems to be due to a combination of demand exceeding supply coupled with polysilicon shortages.

But PV is still part of the good answer. A few days ago, a report titled Emissions from Photovoltaic Life Cycles was released, authored by representatives from the PV Environmental Research Center of Brookhaven National Laboratory (New York), the Center for Life Cycle Analysis of Columbia University (New York), and the Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development of Utrecht University (The Netherlands).

From the abstract:

"Based on PV production data of 2004–2006, this study presents the life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions, criteria pollutant emissions, and heavy metal emissions from four types of major commercial PV systems... Overall, all PV technologies generate far less life-cycle air emissions per GWh than conventional fossil-fuel-based electricity generation technologies."

For more, see Low Emissions, Quick Energy Payback for Thin-Film PV.