Environmental Impact Study: CSP vs. CdTe thin film photovoltaics
Abstract
Due to the recent market fascination with alternative energy, there has been a proliferation
in solar energy technologies. Among all the new technologies, it is hard to see which
will be successes and which will become obsolete as the industry matures. Even more
difficult is analyzing the environmental impact of each of these technologies. The
industry and recent entrants often tout the lack of resources needed to operate a
solar plant, but ignore the resources required to get a product into operation.
This study compares the two cheapest and most recently developed technologies in the
solar energy industry: concentrated solar power parabolic trough technology and cadmium
telluride photovoltaic solar panel technology. The two technologies are analyzed at
a utility scale. The input materials and embodied energy are analyzed using two life
cycle analysis tools: the EIOLCA tool from Carnegie Mellon and GaBi. Embodied energy
is compared to the energy output of the respective technologies using two metrics:
energy return on energy invested, and energy payback time. In addition to energy
input and output, the two technologies are compared on land use, water use, and toxicology.
The results of this study show that both technologies have advantages and disadvantages
with respect to the impacts studied. Cadmium telluride photovoltaic technology is
more efficient in terms of water and energy payback time, while concentrated solar
trough technology is more efficient in terms of land use, toxicity, and energy returned
on energy invested.
Type
Master's projectPermalink
https://hdl.handle.net/10161/1551Citation
Montgomery, Zoe (2009). Environmental Impact Study: CSP vs. CdTe thin film photovoltaics. Master's project, Duke University. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/1551.Collections
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