If a main driver of the transition to renewable energy is reducing the amount of carbon emitted into the atmosphere, shouldn’t the transition itself use the lowest-carbon means possible to achieve this goal? This idea is one that has always stuck with Michael Parr, one which led him to the foundation of the Ultra Low-Carbon Solar Alliance, which officially launched today.
The alliance is a group comprised of some of the leading renewable energy companies in the United States, all bound by the goals of building greater market awareness around how solar supply chain decarbonization is essential to produce solar panels with low embodied carbon. The alliance boasts strong solar industry representation in its founding members, with First Solar, Q CELLS and REC Silicon all hopping on board early, as well as Hemlock Semiconductor, NorSun and Wacker.
It is the hope of the alliance and its members that the increased awareness and market share of low-carbon panels will help governments and corporations meet their aggressive sustainability goals more effectively.
“People in the West are largely buying PV to avoid carbon emissions,” Parr, executive director of the alliance, told pv magazine. “And there’s this material difference in embodied carbon in panels that are on the market today. Wouldn’t it be good if, given the high rate of growth in solar that’s projected over the next five years, wouldn’t it be good if that growth followed a low-carbon trajectory?”
As stated above, the way Parr sees this idea becoming a reality is through education. He sees the sourcing of low-carbon solar components as a goal that some companies and municipalities don’t even know to look to achieve. Through education, he believes these entities will then put out solar solicitation bids that place a premium on low-carbon resources, similar to a model that has been previously instituted in France.
Under this model, the carbon savings of any new solar project are twofold, coming both over the course of the project’s generation lifespan and during the development of the project and procurement of parts.
These lofty, industry-wide goals don’t happen overnight, something Parr is acutely aware of, which is why it was so important to get industry-leading companies on board early.
“We’re working on developing a simple tool or method to allow people to specify ultra-low-carbon [solar products] with confidence,” Parr said. “Like an eco-label or something that sits on a panel and lets you know that’s been verified low-carbon. We’re also actively talking to additional companies along the value chain, trying to expand our membership.”
Educating the industry on the value and availability of low-carbon modules and components is the foundation upon which Parr sees a greater movement towards low-carbon becoming the standard.
“At the end of the day we want [ultra-low-carbon] to expand dramatically, to the point where it sends the kind of market signal that changes the future trajectory,” Parr said. “That’ll be with a standard methodology. That’s a part of our core effort as well. We’re kind of firing on multiple cylinders at once: to accelerate the near-term deployment and the longer-term structural change within the industry… the next generation or the next evolution of sustainability in solar.”
This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.
100% Renewable Electricity = 20% of Energy
If 80% of electricity is renewable by 2050, and electricity is 30% of energy by 2050, then 24% of energy will be renewable. Nobody tells you this for a reason.
— Over 60 yrs jets are 68% more fuel efficient and fly 60X more passengers
— 4.4 billion air trips were taken in 2018 — 2.63 billion in 2010
— If batteries were 6X more efficient we would use 60X more of them
— Earth is heating by 400,000 Hiroshima nukes / day
— 1968 – 1992 = 1 nuke / sec
— 1998 – 2020 = 5 nukes / sec
— 1971 – 2018 global heat forcing averaged 0.47 watts/m²
— 2010 – 2018 it went up to 0.87 watts/m² = 46% higher
— 1% of vehicles are electric — 2% of energy is solar & wind
— 20% of energy is electricity — 24% of energy will be electricity by 2040
— 100% renewable electricity = 20% of energy
— 4% of energy is renewable — 4% of mammals are wild by weight
— With 23 billion chickens on earth, if one sneezes we all get the flu
— Greenhouse gases went up 45% in 30 yrs — 15% of energy will be renewable by 2040
— 66% of people will live in water stressed areas by 2025
— 4 billion people live 1 month / yr in severe water stress
— 20% less fresh water per person is available over the last 20 years — affecting 3 billion people
— 50% of thermal & hydro electric power will be threatened with water stress
— 40% of coal mines are water stressed, and so are 30% of planned hydro
— 20% of energy is electricity, 4% is renewable, 2% is solar & wind
— Renewable energy cannot stop heating in time to avoid runaway hothouse
— We kill trees 2X faster than we plant them
— Trees grow faster die younger in heat fire flood & drought
— Battery & Bio-energy extraction destroys native land water & wildlife
Vaclav Smil says:
— North Euro offshore wind turbines work 33% of the time
— North Euro onshore wind turbines work 22% of the time
— North Euro solar panels work 11% of the time
Green Energy Steals Global Native Freedom Land Water & Wildlife
— Europe burns 80% of the globe’s wood pellets for renewable electricity
— Europe burns 40% of its recycled plastic & paper for electricity
— Europe burns 50% of its palm oil cargo in diesels for green bio-energy
— Dams destroy 80% of river wildlife up and down the rivers
— Shipping trees and palm oil overseas for bio-fuels is criminal
— Europe’s carbon credit system is corrupt
— Europe’s global carbon fund is rife with corruption
— Sources & links at Loki’s Revenge blog on wordpress under Green Energy Fraud
zzz zzz zzz