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China has become the world’s powerhouse in solar panel production — accounting for 80 percent of the market — but the country’s process is making the energy less green.
A report found that the clean energy produces as much as 62.5 percent of the carbon dioxide as natural gas because the nation uses carbon-burning plants — five times more than previously thought.
China’s emissions are also not calculated globally carbon footprint projections as there is no obligation to share such data.
With no data from China, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) claims that industry photovoltaic (PV) emissions are 48 g CO2/kWh.
However, the new analysis suggests the number is closer to 170 and 250 gCO2/kWh.
A report found that the clean energy produces as much as 62.5 percent of the carbon dioxide as natural gas as the nation uses carbon-burning plants — five times more than previously thought
Robbie Andrew, a researcher at the Center for International Climate Research in Oslo, told the Wall Street Journal in 2021, “If China didn’t have access to coal, solar power wouldn’t be cheap now.
“Is it okay that we’ve had this huge increase in carbon emissions from China because it allowed them to develop all these technologies very cheaply?”
Most solar cells contain silicon semiconductors, glass, and metals such as silver, copper, indium, and tellurium.
However, some are designed with battery storage, including the use of lithium.
Collecting silicon and glass has no impact on the environment, but mining metals cause greenhouse gas emissions and lead to soil, water and air pollution. EcoWatch reports.
The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) has set a goal for solar energy to account for 30 percent of US energy generation by 2030.
If the goal is met, more than a billion solar panels will be installed across the US – and a majority will come from China.
The report was prepared by Italian researcher Enrico Mariuttim, who discovered a discrepancy in Ecoinvent’s data two years ago.
‘(The data) showed how much photovoltaic solar systems consumed in terms of raw materials: silicon, aluminum, copper, glass, steel and silver. Then I saw the carbon footprint. It just seemed way too small,” he said Environmental progress.
Environmental Progress is a California-based environmental group founded by Michael Shellenberger, who was a Democratic candidate for governor in the 2018 California gubernatorial election.
Research has found that if China grows in solar energy production, the world will see up to 18 billion tons more carbon emissions by 2040
“According to Mariutti’s findings, the carbon intensity of solar panels manufactured in China and installed in European countries such as Italy was an order of magnitude different,” said Environmental Progress.
A 2022 study by scientists at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Colorado found that emissions per module produced in China were twice as high as in the US for crystalline silicon modules and about four times as high for thin-film cadmium telluride modules – a type of solar cell.
A Clean Energy Buyers Institute report also shared a grim warning about China gaining dominance in the PV industry.
Research has found that as the nation grows in solar energy production, the world will see up to 18 billion tons more carbon emissions by 2040, all related to the PV industry.
And the International Energy Agency (IEA) stated that “until 2025, the world will be almost entirely dependent on China for the supply of key building blocks for solar panel production.”
At one time, the US, Japan and Germany dominated the solar panel production industry.
However, regulations on the use of coal pushed the three superpowers behind, leaving China, which has no guidelines, to take the top spot.
Chinese companies rely on electricity from coal in Xinjiang to produce critical raw materials such as polysilicon, a very pure form of silicon.
Mariutti found that a major problem with solar data is that those who have done research “have been slow to acknowledge the industry’s relocation to China.”
The country only got going in the industry around 2016, but data collectors could only use estimates and models of emissions rather than concrete numbers.
“In 2014, they calculated the carbon intensity of PV energy as if the panels were made in Europe, with low-carbon energy,” Mariutti told Environmental Progress, referring to data compilers.
‘In 2016, calculations started to look like the panels were made in China, so supposedly with carbon-intensive energy.’
Mariutti discovered that calculations always stuck 20 to 40 g CO2/kWh, but the specific model or source was not disclosed.
“If they did the math right, it would come out to about 80 to 106 g CO2/kWh, and that’s left out with important factors,” Mariutti claimed.
The IEA reports this to Environmental Progress those carbon footprint calculations for solar panel production ignore silicon mining, toxic panel waste, and the albedo effect.
The Albedo effect is when the highly reflective properties of dark-colored solar panels amplify the greenhouse effect.
“According to the IEA, the first two factors alone can more than triple the ‘payback period’ of panels, ie the time it takes for them to become carbon neutral after installation,” reports Environmental Progress.
‘Why is the IEA not transparent about its sources and the gaps in the data?’ Mariutti asked.
“A hasty transition to solar and other renewables without ironclad evidence of benefits, while leaving control to China, could be a big mistake.”
Mariutti was criticized for his claims.
Dr. Marco Raugei, a leading researcher of emissions from renewable technologies at Oxford Brookes University, tweeted, “We all used Chinese electricity mixes for c-Si PV. And we still have results that are nowhere near as high as you suggest. So there is clearly something wrong with your calculations on the back of the envelope.’
Among Maritutt’s claims about carbon emissions, China has also come under fire for using slave labor in factories.
The reason the Chinese have been able to make solar panels so cheaply is because they use Uyghur Muslims housed in concentration camps, Shellenberger told the right wing at a CPAC meeting in Australia in 2022.
In September, Shellenberger also told a congressional hearing in Washington that the US had a “moral obligation” to stop importing solar panels from China.