The potential environmental impacts associated with solar power land use and habitat loss water use and the use of hazardous materials in manufacturing can vary greatly depending on the technology which includes two broad categories.
C02 emissions from manufacturing solar panels.
To create a solar panel caustic materials will emit greenhouse gases.
Find out what solar panels cost in your area in 2020 while solar panels are considered a form of clean renewable energy the manufacturing process does produce greenhouse gas emissions.
So perhaps someday powering photovoltaic panel manufacturing with wind solar and geothermal energy will end concerns about the carbon footprint of photovoltaics.
Most solar companies use their own solar panels to power their panel manufacturing plants so the consumption of fossil fuel derived energy to make panels is now very low and getting lower.
Water is yet another issue.
Solar panels payback the energy in 1.
Here s another way to look at it even using lca life cycle assessment wikipedia.
The sun provides a tremendous resource for generating clean and sustainable electricity without toxic pollution or global warming emissions.
The second issue is how much greenhouse house gas ghg is avoided by using solar power with the typical focus on carbon dioxide co2 the most.
Energy payback for solar panels is 1 3 years.