Amorphous silicon photovoltaic modules: a life cycle design case study

Author

Lewis, Geoffrey ; Keoleian, Gregory A.

Author_Institution

Nat. Pollution Prevention Center, Michigan Univ., Ann Arbor, MI, USA

fYear

1996

Firstpage

141

Lastpage

147

Abstract

The life cycle design framework was applied to photovoltaic module design. Two metrics were used to assess life cycle energy performance of a PV module: energy payback time; and electricity production efficiency. These metrics are based on material production, manufacturing, and transportation energies, and were evaluated for several geographic locations. An aluminum frame was responsible for a significant fraction of the total energy invested in the studied module. Design options to reduce the energy impact of this and other components are discussed

Keywords

amorphous semiconductors; design engineering; economics; elemental semiconductors; environmental factors; silicon; solar cell arrays; Al; Si; amorphous semiconductor; case study; electricity production efficiency; energy payback time; energy performance; life cycle design; manufacturing; material production; photovoltaic module design; transportation energies; Amorphous silicon; Computer aided software engineering; Electronic equipment manufacture; Nuclear power generation; Photovoltaic systems; Power generation; Production; Semiconductor thin films; Solar power generation; Transistors;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Electronics and the Environment, 1996. ISEE-1996., Proceedings of the 1996 IEEE International Symposium on

Conference_Location

Dallas, TX

Print_ISBN

0-7803-2950-3

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/ISEE.1996.501868

Filename

501868